It's All Moonshine
by ExtremeSaucicity
Summary: AU. "I'm pretty sure this constitutes as kidnapping," Ally interrupted with a slow drawl, arms crossed as she fixed him with an even glare. She puckered her lips and quirked them to the side. Austin faltered momentarily, not expecting that, but quickly regained his composure. "Kidnapping?" he finally scoffed, "I'm not a criminal, I'm a pop star!"
1. Poster Boy

What is this? I don't even know.

AU. Totally AU. Forget everything you've ever known about Austin and Ally, including their faces, especially their faces.

Disclaimer: I don't own Austin and Ally, not even separately, and definitely not the unit.

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><p>"How are you not excited about this?" Trish demanded loudly as she and Ally walked through the mall. "I mean, you know who he is, right?" At this point, passerby had begun to stare. Trish paid them no attention as she continued to hound Ally about this seemingly important celebrity. "Girl, he is totally famous! And I know you know who he is!"<p>

Ally rolled her eyes and sighed. "Yes, I do know who he is. And yes, I have heard some of his songs before."

Trish shook her head at her friend. "Then I just don't get why you wanna skip out on the concert."

"Trish, I don't know. I just don't really want to see it," she admitted with a shrug. "Besides, I have to watch the store, anyway. My dad told me he had to leave as soon as I got there. He has to go to ano—"

And then Trish stopped, grabbed Ally's arm, and inhaled deeply. "Look!"

"_Ow,_" Ally said pointedly, looking at Trish's vice-like grip on her arm. _Well, that's going to bruise… _"I'm looking," she said flatly as she shifted her eyes to the poster to stare blankly. "You know, I've seen this poster before. I have it hanging up in the store."

Trish ignored this and pointed to a giant poster tacked up on the wall. The poster featured a handsome young musician with perfectly styled blonde hair. His brown eyes had just the right amount of shine to them and he was smiling boyishly into the camera, showing just the right amount of white, pearly teeth. Next to his giant, photo-shopped face — because really, no _way_ his skin was that flawless — there was a blurb talking about the date and time of the concert Trish was so gung-ho about seeing.

The concert-goer gestured at the poster. "It's _Austin Moon_! _The_ Austin Moon!" she declared dramatically. "He's super hot! Plus, dude can sing." And then she nodded solemnly, giving him her silent props. "I mean, look at him! Look at his kind eyes! Look at his hair that flops just the right way!" Trish gushed.

Ally glared at her friend, instantly recognizing those compliments. "Hey! Those are the words I used to describe Dallas!"

"Shush, this is more fitting."

The taller girl rolled her eyes and huffed irritably. Barely able to hold back an incredulous snort, Ally finally settled with, "Trish, I get it. He's dreamy and his songs are catchy… but… how about we just agree to disagree?"

The shorter girl just shook her head in disbelief. "I don't get you. Austin Moon's like, the hottest guy around, he's going to perform right _here_, right _now_, and you're totally unfazed!" Her gestures toward the poster increased with a crazed sort of exasperation. "See? HOT. How are you unfazed?"

Ally shrugged carelessly. "Well… I don't think he's _unattractive_."

Trish frowned and raised an eyebrow. "I'm a little worried about your taste in the opposite gender if you honestly think that _the cell phone accessory cart guy _is cuter than _Austin Moon_," she deadpanned.

Ally stared at her friend flatly, trying to stay calm. "I have to get to work," she replied, "Have fun at the concert." She gave a little half-hearted wave as turned away from the poster.

And with that, the two girls parted ways, both shaking their heads.

"Ally's so blind! Well, she did have a crush on that Dallas dude…" Trish muttered to herself, shuddering slightly. "Holy unlimited texting, he was so _not _cute."

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><p>Ally leaned against the counter as she focused on a surprisingly easy math problem. Due to the concert and Austin's popularity, the Sonic Boom was currently dead, which, while it may have been bad for business, suited Ally just fine because she could get a head start on this week's homework. Plus, she had some reading to do for her book club, practice her calligraphy skills and she had to update her weekly cloud log. Really, she had no time for some silly mall concert starring an admittedly not-unattractive young man singing fluffy pop pieces he was trying to pass off as 'musical art.'<p>

"Pfft, _Austin Moon_," she mumbled, "Yeah, right. More like… _Austin_… I'm-bad-at-writing-a-good-song-_oon_." Ally froze and thanked her lucky stars that no one else had heard that less than stellar sampling of her wit.

The entrance to the Sonic Boom suddenly swung open with and Ally lifted her head to look at the potential customer and smiled, getting ready to rattle off her usual greeting. However, as soon as her eyes landed on her new company, the words died in her throat and her smile slipped off her face. She froze and her eyes widened in fear as she got a good, long look at him.

The stranger was dressed like your usual, run-of-the-mill flasher, in a long, tan trench coat, big sunglasses and a plain, black hat. He was holding his trench coat closed, but kept it unbelted. To top it all off, he kept looking all around the store in a shady manner.

Ally promptly closed her eyes and greeted him in a loud, booming voice, "Why, hello there! How can I help you?" She tried to sound confident but she knew she sounded terrified. She felt like she had every right to be terrified, especially since there was a big chance she'd be forced to look at someone's dangling unmentionables against her will.

"Gah!" the then-potential-customer, now-potential-flasher exclaimed. He jumped half a foot in the air and then landed with a hand clutching his chest. "Why are you yelling?" he hissed in a panic.

Ally flinched, but kept her eyes closed. "I'm sorry, sir," she apologized, her voice doing that thing whenever she got nervous, where it started out low but stayed pitchy, "I didn't mean to startle you."

A beat of silence.

Ally prayed that maybe he left, even though she knew she hadn't heard the door open again.

"Hey… Why are your eyes closed?" he asked slowly.

She tried to remain cool, calm, collected as she said, "They're, uh, resting."

The stranger did not believe her. He took a few steps closer to her. "Open them," he ordered, "You're freaking me out."

Oh god, here it was. She was going to open her eyes and then BAM. There he'd be, in all his naked, inappropriate glory.

Ally whimpered and shook her head. "No, no, I think I'm going to keep them closed just a tiny bit longer. Yep," she laughed nervously, as she popped the 'p' at the end of 'yep'.

Unbeknownst to Ally, he continued to quietly make his way toward her. "Dude, are you okay?"

The fearful brunette frowned in confusion. Wait just a second, was that concern in his voice? Ally exhaled deeply and almost let her guard down when she froze, realizing that it was most likely an act. He was probably just pretending to be concern so she'd relax enough to open her eyes! And then BAM! Nakedness! That sicko! That _ingenious_ sicko!

"Oh ho ho," she laughed bitterly with a shake of her head, "You're good, you're good. I'll give you that."

At this point, he was just a step or two away from standing right in front of the counter. "What are you talking about?" he asked in a voice mixed with amusement and confusion.

Ally clapped her hands over her eyes in response. She also stuck her tongue out at him. Unfortunately because she wasn't paying attention to where his voice was actually coming from, she thought he was still standing by the door, so she'd turned her head in that direction, making her look ever stupider than she realized.

"Aren't you a little bit old to be playing peek-a-boo?" He snickered as he grabbed both her wrists and yanked her hands away from her face.

She gasped at the sudden jerking of her hands and her eyes flew open in horrified surprise. She barely bit back a scream as she looked into curious dark eyes staring back over the top of even darker sunglasses. Her breath hitched but she was able to relax when she saw he still had his coat on.

He looked at her for a moment, marveling at how small and soft her wrists were. "So are you going to stop freaking out?" he asked calmly in a low voice.

Ally swallowed hard, but nodded.

"Good," he sighed in relief, a kind and disarming smile appearing on his handsome face.

She blinked in surprise at how… _nice_ this guy seemed. She tilted her head to the side as she regarded him. His soft brown eyes looked familiar but she couldn't quite place where she'd seen them before.

Her eyes searched his for a moment and he smirked to himself, obviously thinking that he had another girl charmed. He almost shook his head; it was just too easy. She spent more time looking at him, which made his smirk to widen into a more devilish one. He was just about to open his mouth to feed her a horrible line, such as '_You like what you see?_' but then the words that fell from her lips stopped him.

"Who are you?"

He balked, jaw hanging open, eyes bulging out.

Her eyebrows were furrowed slightly to complete an inquisitive look. "Are you okay?"

His smirk disappeared when he was finally able to process her words and now he looked downright offended. He dropped her wrists and shot back a few inches. "Who am I?"

She jumped, startled at his reaction. "Excuse me?"

"You're asking me who am I?" He looked behind him to see if there was anyone else in the store but nope; just him and this crazy chick. He turned back to her and scoffed, "Really? _Seriously_?" He shook his head in disgusted disbelief.

Okay, now he was just being a jerk.

"Okay, now you're just being a jerk."

He gaped at her and pulled off his sunglasses and ridiculous hat to reveal perfectly disheveled blonde hair. "You really don't know?" He threw his accessories onto the counter and reached for the front of his trench coat to yank it open.

"Oh god!" Ally screeched, shielding her eyes with her arms.

"Would you stop _doing _that?" he shouted exasperatedly.

She heard the rustling of clothes, meaning he had taken off his coat and this caused her to panic further. "Stop trying to flash me!" she cried hysterically, "I'm an innocent!"

A moment of stunned silence washed over him. "WHAT?" he bellowed as her words sank in. "Jeez, would you just open your freakin' eyes?" He ran his hands over his face impatiently.

"Put away your dangling unmentionables."

The blonde stared at her flatly and rolled his eyes. "They were never out in the first place."

Ally tried to peek through her arms and saw that he was still clothed. "Oh thank goodness," she sighed in utter relief as she placed a hand over her chest to calm her racing heartbeat, finally able to relax. "Yep, you are indeed wearing clothes. Nice ones, on top of that. Huh, that is a well put-together outfit," she murmured, nodding her approval.

"I'll let my stylist know," he continued in that same flat voice.

Ally narrowed an eye at him in consideration. "You know… you _do_ look kind of familiar." She tapped a finger to her chin. "But _where_ have I seen you before?"

He snorted and pointed behind her. "Gee, I dunno," he said in an exaggerated questioning sort of voice, "maybe on that _poster behind you_."

The brunette's eyes widened and her jaw dropped. "Oh my god! You're _Austin Moon_?" she hissed, not even bothering to turn around.

This? This, he could deal with. Austin smirked confidently, holding out his arms in a '_what can I say?_' manner. "The one and only."

"I thought you were going to flash me!"

That, however, continued to throw him. His smirk disappeared and he winced. "Yeah, I'm not even going to touch that one."

"Well, you were dressed like one!" Ally cried defensively, pointing at his trench coat.

He eyed her wearily with a raised eyebrow. "You're more than just a _tiny_ bit crazy, aren't you?" He sounded amused instead of exasperated though, which Ally took to be a good sign.

Ally rolled her eyes and huffed. "Whatever. Look, why are you even here? Aren't you supposed to be giving some sort of concert? Where you probably sold over-priced tickets to unemployed pre-teens who had to then beg for undeserved money from their hard-working parents?" she asked accusingly.

His eyebrows shot up. "… It's a free concert. But I am taking donations for charity."

A moment of awkward silence filled the room as Austin scratched the back of his neck uncomfortably and Ally blinked owlishly at him.

"Okay, now _I'm_ being a jerk," she muttered, dropping her head in embarrassment and shame into her hands.

"Nah," he murmured with a quick shake of his head before slowly transitioning into a slow, firm nod with a quiet, "Maybe just a little bit."

She looked up and, to Austin's surprise, laughed lightly. "Well, sorry," she apologized as she cleared her throat, "for accusing you of being a money-hungry sell out."

Austin shrugged sheepishly. "I'm from around here, ya know? I thought it'd be cool to give a free concert at my favorite mall, is all."

She smiled at him. "Wow, that's incredibly sweet of you," she said sincerely. Ally glanced down at her watch and her eyebrows shot up. "But doesn't that start like, right now?" she asked.

Austin's eyes widened. "Crap! What time is it?"

"Almost three thirty."

"I gotta go!" he blurted, turning to run out the door. He promptly turned back to her. "Wait, you're not coming to watch me?"

Austin looked at her, slightly disappointed. Ally opened her mouth, ready to tell him the truth, before she realized that she didn't have the heart to break it to him that she just wasn't his biggest fan.

"I can't," she said, sincerely apologetic, "I have to watch the store."

The blonde pop star looked at her, eyes narrowing. "Hey, hold on a second…" he started slowly, piecing two and two together.

Ally blinked in confusion, not having caught on. "What? What is it?"

Austin gaped at her. "Oh my god, you don't like me!" he exclaimed, pointing an accusing finger at her.

She froze, not expecting him to have gotten it right. "Wha-at?" she laughed nervously, "That's cra-zeh talk!" She waved her hand like she was trying to brush off his words. "Cra-zeh!" And then her eyes darted around the room in a demented fashion.

Poor Austin was not used to this. He was universally loved! By _everyone_! He'd never run into someone who hadn't been one of his fans, ever. Even the critics were eventually charmed by him! Because he was charming and lovable, dammit!

"It all makes sense now," he breathed, looking as if his entire world was falling apart, "While everyone was out there, you were in here. You didn't know who I was right away, and now you're making excuses so you can skip my concert!" And then he gasped over-dramatically and clapped a hand over his wounded heart. "You're an _Austin-hater_!" he hissed in utter offense.

Ally opened her mouth, but no words came out, only a strangled noise of guilt.

"Nobody _hates_ me!"

"I don't _hate_ you," Ally cried desperately, starting to feel even worse. "I'm just not really a fan," she admitted with a sad smile, "Sorry."

He looked at her, still wounded, before plastering a bright smile on his face. "Hey, I got an idea!"

Her smile slipped slightly. "Um, what kind of idea?" She didn't know why, but she had a feeling she wasn't going to like it.

"After I give this concert, I'm going to make you an Austin Moon fan!" he declared, a spark of fire igniting in his eyes. "You'll have to come around eventually. Trust me; I'm awesome, I'm famous, and I'm_ so_ talented!"

Ally stood in stunned surprise.

Finally, "Your conceit is alarming."

"Thanks!" he grinned.

She blinked slowly at him before giving him an odd look. She wasn't quite sure how to respond to his enthusiasm when she had just put him down. "Uh… that wasn't a compliment?"

He looked at her, unfazed, with his grin still in place. "Just you wait—uh—" he trailed off awkwardly.

"Ally Dawson," she supplied helpfully in a monotone voice.

Austin snapped his fingers and beamed brighter, if that was even possible. "Right! Just you wait, Ally Dawson, I'm going to change your mind about me!" Austin winked at her and Ally felt her breath hitch. He put on his sunglasses and hat, but left behind his trench coat. Ally silently approved of this. He pointed at her, took note of the way her already big eyes widened even further, and issued his challenge with an overly confident smirk, "By the end of it, you're going to be my biggest fan!"

Ally couldn't do much more than gape wordlessly at _the _Austin Moon as he vowed to make her his fan.

And then he moon-walked out of her store.


	2. You Don't Know Anyone With a Limo

If you left a review, I wanted to sincerely thank you. If you read the first chapter, walked away without leaving one, but you're back for round two anyway, I also wanted to thank you.

I suppose one could argue that Ally is a tad bit out of character at some points in this. But I'm choosing to make her sassier because I see that potential in her. Plus, she's best friends with Trish and it's bound to rub off, right? And c'mon, who doesn't like a sassy female lead?

Boring losers with no wit, that's who!

And apologies for the lack of interesting happenings in this chapter, since it's mostly filler. But I hope it wrangles a chuckle or two out of you anyway, no matter how weak or mild they may be. I'll even take a pity chuckle; I'm not asking for much here.

A pained, weak smile? No? Alright then.

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><p>Ally spent the next quiet hour or so completely focused on doing her math homework, choosing to ignore her chance encounter with Austin Moon where he had stumbled into her store. Really, pretending the whole thing never happened was much easier than trying to process any of it. Well, she tried to. It proved more difficult than she had anticipated, since her mind kept wandering back to the whole ordeal.<p>

Also, that was one smooth moonwalk he showcased.

Anyway, as much as Ally hated to admit it, Trish was right; those words she once used to describe Dallas were much more fitting for Austin.

(Not that Ally would ever admit that to another soul for as long as she breathed and walked along this Earth.)

"Argh," she grunted unbecomingly with a furious shake of her head, "This is ridiculous. Less than fifteen minutes in the same room with him and I'm already becoming 'Moon'struck." She instantly froze and repeated herself. _Moonstruck… moonstruck… moon…struck. Huh. That could be an excellent song title and oh my holy barrel of pickles, is _Austin Moon_ becoming my new inspiration? Am I actually being inspired by that_ insipid_, egotistical pop star?_

Ally groaned and flumped over the counter in a limp fashion, depressed and embarrassed with herself. She closed her eyes and mechanically opened her brown leather song book. With her cheek still pressed to the counter, she opened an eye and half-heartedly scribbled down _MOONSTRUCK_ on the corner of a blank page anyway. Once she underlined it, she quickly shut the book, lifting her head up to dart her eyes back and forth like a tiny, demented squirrel, making sure she was still alone as she was still not proud about her most recent muse.

Her timing was perfect, since Trish chose that moment to dance into the store, Austin Moon's lyrics belting out of her mouth as her way of greeting. She spun to a stop at Ally's counter, glowing with an obvious concert-high.

Ally's eyebrow arched itself. "Why, hello to you, too," she greeted with an amused grin. "I take it the concert was amazing?" She put her beloved songbook under the counter to pay attention to her friend's spiel.

Trish actually squealed.

"Ow," Ally winced. She brought a hand up to her head and rubbed the offended eardrum.

Trish didn't notice the potential bursting of her friend's eardrum and carried on. "Oh, my god. You have no idea! He's phenomenal! The energy was insane! And he even did an encore!" she gushed enthusiastically, practically breathless. "You may not be a fan, but you sure would have loved it!" she sang with a near-creepy waggling of her eyebrows.

Ally snorted and rolled her eyes. "I'm sure I would have," she said, looking at Trish with a level stare but there was a small smile playing at her lips anyway.

Trish ignored her friend's sarcasm and continued with a serious look, "And you know what the scary part is?"

"The amount of superficiality in his dumbed-down lyrics?" she muttered under her breath.

"He's somehow cuter in person!"

Ally sighed irritably. "You got that right," she grumbled in annoyed agreement, a flash of Austin's devilish smirk coming to her mind's eye.

The Latina girl instantly did a double take. "What was that?" It wasn't often that Trish was stunned, after all.

Ally froze and inwardly panicked for a second. "Duh-uh, nothin'," she stuttered, her tongue tripping over itself. She flashed a fake, bright smile. "So-oh! Why don't you, uh, tell me more about the concert!" she deflected with a wide grin.

Trish's eyebrows furrowed, obviously not convinced but she finally decided to drop the matter so she could continue her fangirling. "Anyway, Ally, it was crazy! I elbowed my way up to the front and I'm pretty sure I touched his hand." She gave a smug smile and nodded smoothly.

Ally's cheeks turned pink as she remembered Austin's warm, calloused fingers wrapped around her own slender wrists. "Cool," she managed weakly.

Trish's eyebrows shot up. "Uh, Ally, you okay? You look kind of red…"

"Yeah," Ally answered breathlessly. "I'm just—uh, it's just the heat, you know?" She made a big show of fanning herself with her hand, laughing nervously.

Trish opened her mouth to question her further, obviously no longer buying her friend's phony act, but Lester had walked into the store, calling his daughter's name. He quickly stalked to the counter; his features screwed up in confusion and worry.

Ally's facial expression immediately mirrored her father's. "Dad? Dad, what is it?" She walked out from behind the counter to meet her father. "Is something wrong?" she asked, placing a soft hand on her father's arm.

"Um, a boy is here for you. Uh, he's outside, actually." He jerked a thumb toward the door. "But—"

"Is that all?" she interrupted incredulously, eyebrows furrowed.

Lester nodded. "Well, yes, but—"

Trish raised an eyebrow. "Wow, is it really that shocking that a boy would show an interest in you, Ally? Hey, ow!" She rubbed her arm where Ally had smacked her.

Ally turned to her father, curious. "Do you know who he was?"

Lester nodded again, but he appeared more panicky this time around. "I think so. But the weird part—"

"Weirder than a guy being interested in Ally?" Trish joked.

The taller brunette rounded on the shorter one. "Thanks, Trish, you're really helping my confidence here," Ally deadpanned.

Trish held her hands up in defense. "Hey! I love you and everything, but it kinda takes some time, ya know?"

Ally was about to defend herself when Lester interrupted hurriedly.

"He's waiting in a limo."

The girls' jaws dropped. As the words slowly started to sink in, Trish turned to look at Ally, who had paled considerably.

"Ally…" Trish managed quietly after a pause as she regarded Ally with a look of inquisition.

"… Uh huh?" Ally replied feebly, feeling a painfully large headache coming on. But currently, she felt more than a little sick to her stomach due to the amount of dread that was steadfastly building in her lower abdomen. And here she'd been, foolishly hoping she'd be able to keep her meeting with Austin Moon a secret she'd take to her grave.

Trish gave her a look of pissed-off confusion. "What the hell? Why would someone in a limo want to see you? Do you even _know _anyone who _has _a limo?" If she'd been talking to anyone else, they probably would have been taken aback by her seemingly rude words. But this was Ally, and she knew that this lack of tact was just Trish being her usual, spicy Latina self.

Ally winced and decided it was too late to keep Trish in the dark now; her friend was painfully lazy, not annoyingly stupid. "Well, someone does come to mind…" Ally laughed awkwardly as she thought back to a certain pop star.

"What do you mean 'someone comes to mind'?" Trish demanded hotly. "Ally, we've gone to the same school since kindergarten! All the people you know, I know! WE KNOW THE SAME PEOPLE. SO WHO THE HELL HAS A FREAKIN' LIMO?" She gave her a pointed look and cocked her head, "'Cause I'd like to know." She was also planning to take full advantage of limo opportunities.

Ally swallowed and tried to breathe normally. "Uh, about that," she muttered nervously. "Well, I—"

Lester looked even more confused as he said slowly, "Ally, honey… I couldn't get a really good look at him, but…" and here he paused dramatically, taking a sweeping look around the store, only continuing when he noticed they were still the only ones in the store, "… honey, I think it's that Austin Moon singer you young girls keep fancying."

"Oh god," Ally breathed, face-palming as her fears became reality. "Oh, I think I'm gonna hurl..."

The look Trish's face made it seem as if her brain had just stopped working. She opened her mouth, uttered not a single sound or syllable, and closed her mouth. She blinked and opened her mouth again, managed a pained grunt and closed it once more. Finally, "… I think I'm speechless." She quickly decided she did not like this feeling of being 'at a loss of words'. Seriously, how could she showcase her witty sarcasm at this point? "I don't like this," she muttered with quiet ire.

Lester frowned. "Ally, what's going on here? Why would some young pop singer want to see you? And how did you two even meet?"

Ally leaned forward and placed her elbows on the counter to rub her temples. "It's a long story, dad."

Trish looked incredulous. "Well, get goin', come back here and then _tell me all about it_!" she yelled.

"I'm not going!" Ally declared. She bit her lip and fought the powerful urge to stick the strand of hair she was twirling furiously between her fingers into her mouth so she could gnaw on something familiar. "This is ridiculous," she huffed bitterly, "Why on earth would he want to waste his time with me? Hasn't he got another crappy, shallow, fluff-pop album to produce?"

Trish glared at her. "Okay. First of all, they are totally awesome albums and yes, he _is _working on another album. Second, if Austin Moon wants to see you, he's _going_ to see you so get your ass out there!" she shouted.

And then, as if Ally's life couldn't get any more bizarre, a tall, redheaded young man waltzed in through the door. "Uh, is there an Ally Dawson here? Ally Dawson. Are you here? Ally. Dawson. Calling Ally Dawson. Dawson, Ally. Is she here?" He looked all around the store in jerky, spastic movements. "Hello? Miss Dawson? Mrs. Dawson?" He squinted his eyes in contemplation, "… _Mr_. Dawson…?"

Ally didn't make any sudden movements and froze, secretly hoping that maybe she'd turn invisible and he wouldn't notice her. The logical part of her realized the glaringly large holes of impossibility in this plan, but it was all she got. She didn't take any chances and held her breath as well.

Trish rolled her eyes and pointed at the still brunette. "Here's the lucky winner!" she shouted loudly, hand cupped around her mouth.

"Traitor!" the statue hissed, her nerves coming back.

The redhead lit up as he pointed at Ally as well. "Oh hey, I totally thought you were a mannequin!" he exclaimed with child-like wonder.

The short Latina shoved her friend forward with a grunt. "Now go play nice with Mr. Popstar!"

"Oh crap," Ally muttered feebly as she stumbled forward clumsily thanks to Trish's hard shove, a lock of hair now wedged between her teeth.

"Stop eating your hair!" Trish hissed, "Austin's not going to like you if you have bald spots!"

"Shut up!" her hair-gnawing friend hissed back, turning to glare at her friend. The threat worked though, as Ally spat out her hair. She turned again to face the redheaded stranger. "Um. Hello," she said nervously.

He smiled brightly and chirped, "Hey, I'm Dez! C'mon, let's go! Austin's gonna get impatient." He grabbed her arm and went to spin around toward the door.

Ally stopped him by pulling his hand off her arm. "Uh, _no_," she said with a forced laugh, quickly getting over her nausea, "Sorry, but I am _not _going with you. You can tell Austin that I'm not interested."

Dez frowned, looking mildly hurt. "He won't be happy to hear that."

"That's too bad," Ally snapped, quickly becoming more and more annoyed.

He threw her an offended look. "Well, okay, Miss Snappylips!"

Ally rolled her eyes and started to make her way back to the counter. "Please tell Mr. Moon that I have no intention of seeing him again," she called over her shoulder in a sassy huff.

"I'm sorry that I'm going to have to resort to this," he muttered. And then he exhaled and inhaled deeply, rolling his shoulders and working out the kinks in his neck. He caught up to Ally at the counter in two long strides and picked her up like a sack of light potato chips and threw her over his shoulder effortlessly.

Ally screeched at the top of her lungs. "WHAT ARE YOU _DOING_?" she demanded, beating at his back with her tiny fists. "Put me down! Oh god. Please put me down! Why are you doing this?" she cried desperately, "_I'm in a skirt._"

Dez turned to her father, enjoying the light massage he was receiving from the flailing brunette. "You must be her male parental unit! Don't worry, Austin just wants to talk with her over dinner. Kinda like a date."

"_I REFUSE TO GO OUT ON A DATE WITH AUSTIN MOON_," Ally shouted in a booming voice.

Her desires of avoiding the pop star went on ignored.

"He'll be a perfect gentleman. And he'll have her back in one piece," he promised with a charming smile.

Lester just nodded dumbly and didn't say another word. He realized he was an odd man and very little phased hi m due to that. But this was, by far, the strangest thing that's ever happened to him and his daughter.

As Dez headed to the door, Ally mouthed, '_HELP ME,_' to her best friend and beloved father.

Her father shouted at Ally to have fun on her date.

Trish demanded that she come back with an autographed picture. Preferably already framed as well.

_Fools. The lot of them,_ Ally thought darkly with a dramatic narrowing of her brown eyes. She huffed irritably and crossed her arms along Dez's back, finally giving in.

"Oh, hey! Why'd you stop the massage?" Dez whined.

Ally's lips pressed into a thin line of intense irritation. "How's _this_ for a massage?" she asked dryly, taking aim and giving him one last hearty _thump_ with her fist.

"Gah! My right kidney!"


	3. Barely a Peck

A/N: Argh. I am so sorry. This isn't going to be worth the nine month wait. I want you guys to know that I am not abandoning this story. If you're still sticking around for this fic, I am truly amazed and beyond flattered. Thank you for your continued support. So, uh, together, we can power through this shitty chapter and then make way to the (hopefully) better parts!

And you can thank Miss-Rainy-Skies for getting my ass into gear and making sure I was actually working on this story. She's wonderful and lovely and while I'm positive you've already done so, go read Damage Control if you haven't.

Extra long to make up for the wait, guys.

* * *

><p>Dez dumped the annoyed brunette into the backseat of the limo, where she landed in a heap of pink and red florals. Ally grunted in displeasure and righted herself, narrowing her eyes at the redhead. "Thanks for that," she drawled, blowing a strand of brown hair out of her face. It fell in between her eyes again and she impatiently brushed it out her face.<p>

"Yeah, well, I'm pretty sure I'm going to be peeing blood now because of you!" he whined as he slammed the limo door in her face, only to yank it open half a second later. "And you're welcome!" he shouted in distressed, slamming it shut once more.

Ally rolled her eyes at the door. She heard him climb into the passenger's seat and she turned to Austin resignedly when the limo finally started moving. He was seated across from her, looking terribly confused. "Um. Do I wanna know?" he questioned, eyebrows shooting up under his bangs.

She shrugged nonchalantly. "Punched him in the kidney," she replied airily, with a casual tone.

A beat of awkward silence passed by as Austin took the time to process her sentence. He decided it would be best not to comment and quickly lit up with a bright smile instead. He clapped his hands together excitedly, saying "So, Ally—!"

"I'm pretty sure this constitutes as kidnapping," Ally interrupted with a slow drawl, arms crossed as she fixed him with an even glare. She puckered her lips and quirked them to the side.

Austin faltered momentarily, not expecting that, but quickly regained his composure. "Kidnapping?" he finally scoffed, "I'm not a criminal, I'm a pop star!"

Ally rolled her eyes once more and muttered, "So I've been continuously told." She spent the next minute or two looking around the limo's interior, clearly unimpressed. She eventually sighed and turned her gaze back Austin. "Well? Why am I here again?"

He looked at her in bewilderment. "Really?"

She blinked at him, eyebrows furrowed at his expression. "What?"

He gestured wildly about. "You're not excited by any of this? At all? Not even a little?" He looked concerned, "You're _really _not normal, are you?"

"_What?_" she repeated impatiently, not catching on.

"Do you realize how many girls would _kill_ to be you right now?" When Ally continued her blank stare, Austin looked at her incredulously. "You'd really rather be at home right now? Instead of here? In a limo? Hanging out with me? _The_ Austin Moon? I mean, seriously. I'm _the _Austin Moon!" he stressed, gesturing toward his upper torso with a desperate sort of frenzy, as if the wild gesticulating would help her finally grasp the true honor of basking in his glorious presence.

Her continued slow blinking proved him wrong. "I have a lot of homework I need to get done," she shrugged in a completely nonplussed fashion.

Austin face-palmed and shook his head. When he finally looked back up at her, he sighed with deep annoyance. "Okay. Fine," he sighed resignedly. "At least tell me you're hungry, because I'm taking you out for dinner."

"Dinner?" Ally repeated tonelessly.

The young celebrity nodded, suddenly enthusiastic. "Yeah! With forks and knives and everything!"

"Yeeeah," she deadpanned slowly, "I don't think so." She uncrossed her arms and ran a hand through her hair irritably. "Austin," she started huffily, "this joke has gone on long enough. Turn this limo around and take me back to Sonic Boom."

"... But I already made reservations!" he whined with an absurd pout.

Her eyelids fluttered closed and Ally groaned exaggeratedly. She let her head fall back against the headrest with a soft _thump_. After a few minutes of pathetically bemoaning her own fate, she finally lifted her head back up and stared him down with a flat and unimpressed look. "Okay, fine, I'll come to your stupid dinner."

And then he squeaked, literally _squeaked,_ in excitement. The noise that emitted from his throat confused and fascinated her. "You _will_?!" he shouted in celebratory glee, eyes lighting up like a Christmas tree.

"Yes," was her dispassionate response, complete with a dramatic eye roll.

Austin paid no attention to her complete disinterest as he scrambled into the seat next to her, throwing his arms around her in a deadly tight bear hug. "It's going to be the best dinner ever!" he enthused happily.

At Ally's sudden intake of breath and stiffened shoulders, Austin slowly eased up on the embrace, but his arms still hung loosely around her torso. "What?" he asked cluelessly, eyebrows furrowing in worry.

"Oh, you know, just trying to get used to a teen celebrity invading my personal space and then taking me out to dinner," she deadpanned with a pointed look.

He smirked at that, brown eyes alight with laughter. "What? You mean you're not always getting hit on by hot pop stars?"

Ally shrugged nonchalantly. "Such a surprise, right? I can honestly say you're the first," she said, smiling just the tiniest bit.

He brightened at her smile, and repositioned an arm so he could waggle a finger at her face. "And there it is!" he exclaimed.

She nearly went cross-eyed as she tried to look at his finger. She started blinking rapidly to readjust her focus. "What? What is it?" she frowned.

Austin grinned toothily at her. "That's your first smile since Dez dumped you into the limo." He tilted his head to the side, regarding her thoughtfully as his grin turned soft. "You know, you're cute when you smile."

Ally faltered at his earnest compliment, letting her jaw drop a good few inches. "Um—uh," she stuttered as a mad blush made its way through her cheeks. "Th—thanks?"

He smirked at her. "Well, this is different. What happened to feisty Ally, huh?"

Ally rolled her eyes and shoved him away half-heartedly. "Oh, shut up," she muttered under an irritated sigh.

Austin laughed at her discomfort and clambered back into his original seat, hands rubbing together excitedly. "So! About this dinner..."

* * *

><p>Ally looked around room in surprise and confusion, a small smile on her lips. "Well, I wasn't expecting <em>this<em>," she giggled as she took in the cute and simple decor of the breakfast-themed Austin had picked to eat at.

It was just the two of them eating, as Austin had given the driver instructions to pick them up after they were finished. As the limo drove away after dropping them off in front of the diner, Dez had rolled down the window and told Austin to watch out for his kidneys.

"Wuh?" he managed around a mouthful of syrup-drenched pancakes. He looked at her for exactly half a second before moving his focus back to his heavenly, fluff-tastic pancakes.

She shook her head and daintily cut into her Belgian waffle. "To be honest, I kind of thought you were going to take me to some mind-blowingly expensive, five-star restaurant. Where the waiters wear bow ties and all the meals start at, like, fifty dollars or something," she said with a small shrug.

Austin swallowed guiltily and gave her a sheepish smile. "Oh... maybe that would have been more impressive..." he winced.

Ally laughed merrily and Austin couldn't help but perk up at the lovely sound.

"No, no!" she insisted with a dismissive wave of her hand. "I love it! This was the better choice, promise." And the sincere smile she gave him was so radiant, Austin almost forgot about his plate of pancakes.

He opened his mouth and then closed it, coughing despite his suddenly dry throat. "Well, uh, I'm glad! Are you... are you enjoying your waffle?" He winced again, but this time at his own, unexpected awkwardness.

Jeez. What was happening? He's dated models and gorgeous actresses, but some random, feisty girl from some weird, little music shop was making him _stutter_? What the hell?

She nodded happily, not noticing the effect she had on the pop star. "Yeah, it's the best I've had in years!" She took another glance around the quaint, little diner and smiled at him. "I can't believe I've never been to Jack's Stacks before."

Austin grinned. "Yeah! I used to come here all the time before I moved out to L.A.! It's the best breakfast place in Miami," he said confidently.

Ally looked at him bemusedly. "It _is_ really good," she agreed with a chuckle.

"So... are you having fun?" he asked hopefully, mustering up the perfect pair of puppy dog eyes.

Her fork paused on its journey to her mouth and she faltered slightly. "Um," she tilted her head to the side with furrowed brows. "Yes? I guess?"

His eyes lit up and he cracked a toothy grin. "See!" he insisted, "I'm not _so _bad!"

She blinked at his response before giving an amused scoff. "You're alright," she teased, popping the forkful of waffle into her mouth, smiling as she chewed. A closed-mouth smile, of course, she knew her manners.

Austin pulled a face of mock offense. "You've wounded me. It's a good thing that I have this enormous stack of pancakes to comfort me."

Ally snorted and threw a blueberry from her compote at him.

"Whoa, hey! I'm wearing a white blazer!" But he caught it in his mouth and then laughed at her. "Good thing you have horrible aim!"

She couldn't help the little scoff of laughter that escaped and she ducked her head to hide her giggles. "You're an idiot," she laughed.

He grinned widely at her and they ate the rest of their breakfast dinner in comfortable silence, with the occasional comment here and there.

* * *

><p>"Oh! There it is!" Ally pointed as she saw her house right down the street, somewhat relieved that this signaled an end to the evening.<p>

Austin leaned forward and looked out the window with her. "It looks nice," he said sincerely with a slow smile and Ally shot him a shy look.

"Thanks."

The limo slowed to a stop and Ally turned to look at Austin. "Well, um," she started nervously. "Dinner was really nice and... oh my god, this is so _weird_," she grumbled with a blush. She scrubbed her fingers through her hair, mildly annoyed that she couldn't come up with a proper good-bye that didn't seem forced or awkward.

He laughed. "It doesn't have to be weird! You're the one over-thinking things!" He shook his head and went to open the door on his side. "Here, let me walk you to your door."

Ally vehemently shook her head at that, eying him flatly. "Would you stop trying to turn this into some weird date-thing?"

Austin raised an eyebrow at her. "And why _can't_ this be a date?" he asked challengingly, a smirk appearing across his handsome features**.**

She deftly ignored the blush blooming across her cheeks and sucked in a breath. She held up a hand and motioned for him to stay. "Look, I've got this. I can walk up there by myself. You just stay here," she sighed wearily.

He held up his own hands in mock surrender. "Alright! I was just trying to be a gentleman, but if you insist."

Ally started to thank him for leaving the matter alone when he reached over and gave her a quick peck on the cheek.

Her insane sputtering didn't stop for a full minute as Austin sat there, watching her, trying to keep his cackling under control.

He booped her nose with a smug grin. "You just looked so cute," he cooed at her in a vaguely condescending manner.

Her face turned redder than her floral-patterned skirt and that just made Austin cackle even harder. "You—you _jerk!_" she choked out, swatting angrily and mightily at him, aiming for his entire upper torso.

He did his best to dodge her attacks and his smug look faltered considerably as he realized that Ally wasn't about to let up any time soon. "Sorry! Sorry! Hey, I said I was—ow! Hey! That one's going to leave a mark!"

"Good!"

"Oh, c'mon! It was barely even a peck!" he shouted, exasperated. "_Ow!_"

"I don't—" slap, slap "—_care!_" Another smack. "You're—" smack, slap, smack "—still a—" and still a couple more "—jerk!"

Austin fell over into fetal position and covered his head with his arms. And yeah, whatever, he felt pretty pathetic—all balled up like an infant—but his face was his _moneymaker_, okay? He had to protect that thing.

With one last resounding _smack!_ to his head, she finally stopped. She crossed her arms and glared at him, still curled up. "Not cool," she growled, seething with anger.

Austin waited for a few seconds and then when he felt safe, he hesitantly peeked at her between his arms. He winced once again, this time at her cool glare and sternly crossed arms. "Okay, okay." He slowly sat up and started to smooth down the front of his blazer, pouting the entire time. "It was _just_ a—"

"Still _not cool_," she repeated through clenched teeth. And then she rolled her eyes and stepped out of the limo, running up the driveway and jogging up her porch steps. She gave an irritated sigh and slammed her front door open, ignoring Austin's calls for her to wait.

She shut the door and leaned against it in relief as she heard the limo drive away. She was met with Lester sitting on the couch, watching TV in his usual position most evenings. "Hey, sweetie," called, not taking his eyes off the little TV screen, obviously on auto-pilot. "Did you have fun on your date?"

An image of Austin's smug face after he had kissed her cheek her crossed her mind and she gave a loud grunt of annoyance as she ran up the stairs into her room. She rubbed furiously at her red-hot cheeks, even more annoyed that he had able to get to her like that.

"Well, that's good," came his half-hearted reply as he continued watching Full House, chuckling to himself as Uncle Jesse uttered one of his famous, _'Have mercy!_'s_._

Ally closed the door with an amused roll of her eyes, aimed at her father's usual lack of communication. She smiled softly when she saw her school books stacked neatly on her desk with her cellphone sitting on the top, on her battered songbook. Her backpack sat on the floor, propped up by the side of her desk.

_Thanks, dad..._

She snatched her phone off the top of the stack and scrolled through the half dozen or so missed calls and text messages Trish had left her, desperately demanding to know absolutely everything that had been going on between Austin and her.

Ally's eyebrow hiked up higher and higher as each text message grew in intensity. She quickly typed out, '_Too tired. We'll talk tomorrow during lunch?_' and sent it, throwing the phone back onto her desk and flopping lifelessly onto her bed.

_Hmpf, stupid pop star. And we were finally starting to get along, too. He just had to pull _such_ a juvenile stunt._

Her phone came to life, vibrating and lighting up with a new text message and Ally huffed irritably. She considered getting up and answering it, but finally decided against it, choosing to get ready for bed instead.

She gathered up her pajamas and started toward the door, ignoring her phone as Trish continued sending message after message.

_Argh. Maybe a shower will help..._

* * *

><p>"Okay, <em>spill your guts<em>, Dawson," Trish demanded impatiently as she slammed her lunch tray onto the table and slid into her seat with a loud huff.

Ally looked at her friend guiltily, spoon in her mouth. "I'm sorry for ignoring your messages last night and—"

Trish snorted glared at the apologetic brunette. "We can talk about that later. Just tell me how your date with _the_ Austin Moon went!" And then she clapped her hands giddily and gestured for her friend to start the tale.

Ally flinched, feeling heat rush through her cheeks. "_Not a date_," she grumbled sullenly, sinking into her seat. "Argh, this is all so frustrating."

The Latina scoffed and rolled her eyes. "Dinner, hang-out, casual outing, rendezvous, what_ever_, just gimme all the details!" And then she raised an eyebrow at the sulking girl. "You know you're blushing, right?" she pointed out with an amused snicker as she started munching on the french fries on her lunch tray.

She groaned and scooted down the bench so she was no longer directly in front of her lunch tray. And then she promptly flumped over and face planted onto the surface of the table. "Triiish," she whined pathetically, bottom lip wobbling slightly.

The french fry paused on its way to to Trish's mouth and her eyebrows furrowed. "That bad?" she asked incredulously.

"No..." Ally sighed grumpily, lifting her head up to rest her chin on the table. "I actually... kind of had fun," she pouted.

Trish blinked in rapid succession, thoroughly confused. "Then what was the problem? Like, was he extra charming? Were his eyes _too_ sparkly?" she asked sarcastically.

An even deeper red bloomed across her cheeks. "He kept acting like it was a date." The sullen teen rolled her eyes and pulled her songbook out of her backpack. She opened it to the middle and placed it over her head like a little protective roof. "And he kissed me on the cheek before I got out of the limo," she muttered embarrassingly.

Trish's jaw dropped, clearly scandalized. "Wait! What? Seriously?" she squealed excitedly. "Ooh, gurl, you get it!" And then she whipped out her suggestive waggling eyebrows of sexual implications, much to Ally's complete horror.

"No, Trish, no. There will absolutely be no 'getting it'," the girl with a book over her head stated sternly. "None. Whatsoever."

The Latina laughed and rolled her eyes. "Okay, okay," she relented. "I'm sorry. But seriously! I don't know why you're so upset, especially since it seems like you had fun. And he even kissed you on the cheek, right? Why are you freaking out so much?"

Ally sighed again and looked up at her friend, not caring about her ridiculous position. "Trish, he's... he's a _celebrity_. I don't want to get too attached. He doesn't even _live_ here," she muttered, actually sounding a bit downtrodden.

"Attached?" Trish echoed bemusedly, a sly grin starting to form on her lips. "Getting _attached _now, are we?" She geared up to taunt her some more when she took the time to actually look at her friend, still moping underneath her book, and her eyes softened. "Look, I'm sure that as awful as that might have been, it doesn't call for your book-roof, okay?" she said gently as she reached over to pry the book out of Ally's fingers.

"Don't touch my book," she mumbled dejectedly, completely out of habit. But she let Trish take her book away anyway. Ally wrinkled her nose in annoyance. "I can't believe I had my first date with a conceited, immature pop star." She scrunched up her nose further. "And I can't believe I just admitted that it was a date."

Trish watched in exasperated amusement as Ally groaned forlornly and grabbed her book, reconstructing her little book-roof. "Geez. I can't tell whether you like him or hate him," she muttered with an arched brow.

"You know what's the worse part?" Ally muttered quietly. She swallowed nervously, finally admitting out loud, "... neither can I."

* * *

><p>After school let out, Ally waited patiently at Trish's locker because she was her ride home. She sighed in relief when she saw familiar curls bouncing down the hallway. "Hey, Trish!"<p>

"Hey!" she greeted back cheerfully. "Ready to go?"

Ally nodded and they started toward the back doors, leading to the giant parking lot behind the school. "I'm pretty ready for this day to be over. It's a good thing I don't have to work at Sonic Boom tonight."

Trish's eyebrows raised skeptically. "Your dad gave you a day off?"

She smiled and elbowed her friend playfully. "Oh, he's not so bad. I don't mind working at Sonic Boom 24/7. And staying at home by myself too often gets lonely." Her smile widened. "Besides, you're always at the mall with me, whether you're just hanging out or taking a break from one of your many different jobs and that's always a plus."

The Latina chuckled. "True, true."

At that point, the two girls had made made it exactly one step through the doors, only to immediately back up and slam them shut.

They stood there, blinking in mild horror for a few silent seconds. Trish was the first to speak.

"Ally... did you see...?"

"Oh god," Ally breathed inaudibly, closing her eyes. "Please tell me you didn't see what I just saw."

Another beat passed by.

Trish opened the door and closed it again.

"Nope. We definitely saw that."

"Oh my god," the barely taller brunette muttered. "Why is this my liiifeee?" she cried morosely, dragging out the syllables of her words.

Trish snapped out of her stupor and rolled her eyes. "C'mon! Get out there!" she shouted, latching onto Ally's arm and forcing her through the doors.

Another look of horror flashed through Ally's doe eyes. "Wait! No!"

Despite her protests, Trish marched the both of them to the shiny limo waiting in the parking lot, surrounded by masses of confused and curious teenagers.

"Whoa, I wonder if it's somebody famous."

"Uh, duh! Course it's somebody famous. I mean, look at it! It's a freakin' _limo!_"

"Hey, dude! I don't need your sass!"

Ah, high schoolers. Always brimming to the core with fast-paced wit and stunning intellect.

Trish huffed impatiently and elbowed her way through the crowd. "Move it! Move it! Step aside, guys. What? Well, maybe if your spleen wasn't in my freakin' way, you'd be okay right now!"

The offended bystander shot her a watery glare and walked away, doubled over in pain.

"Pansy," she scoffed under her breath.

And then she finally made it through the crowd, to the front of the limo. She rapped he knuckles on the window. "Hey! I'd like to leave this hellhole called 'high school' sometime soon," she shouted. "Unfortunately, your stupid limo is causing quite the commotion. So here!" And Trish pushed Ally forward, like some sort of bizarre offering. "Take her and go!"

"You are the worst best friend _ever_," Ally hissed vehemently, readjusting the strap on her book bag.

The window rolled down about two or three inches and Ally was met with twinkling brown eyes that were becoming far too familiar for her own comfort. "Hey, Ally!" he laughed happily.

Ally's jaw worked soundlessly. Finally, she shook her head and asked in annoyed awe, "What are you _doing_ here?"

She had to strain to hear him over the crowd of teenagers as he replied, "I stopped by Sonic Boom today and your dad told me when you had the day off. I asked if it was okay if I could pick you up from school and he gave me the address to your school!"

"Dude, if you weren't a cute rock star, that'd be waaay creepy," Trish muttered, arching a disapproving brow.

Austin appeared sheepish. "Sorry. I didn't have Ally's number so I couldn't give you a heads up." He opened the door. "Quick, get in!" he shouted.

Ally shook her head. "I don't think—wah!"

Austin had reached across the seat and wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her in before she could even finish her protest. Unfortunately, this caused her to drop her book bag onto the ground before she made it through the limo door.

"Start the limo!" Austin shouted as Ally landed sprawled across his lap. He quickly shut the door, but not before winking at her high school peers, inducing mass hysteria and guttural screeching.

"Oh my god!"

"Was that Austin Moon?!"

"_How does Ally know Austin Moon?!_"

Austin snickered to himself as the limo started moving. "Haha, I love doing that."

Ally righted herself, spitting out a chunk of hair that had lodged itself into her mouth and down her throat. "Pfft! Pfft! Oh god—pfft!"

Austin turned back to his companion, watching as Ally continued sputtering and choking on her hair. He furrowed his eyebrows in mild horror. "... Attractive."

She finally pulled the last of it out of her mouth and off her cheek. She glared menacingly at him, before taking a deep breath and exhaling slowly, trying to calm down before she strangled the guy. But it was only because not only would the police be looking for her, but she was pretty sure his hoard of rabid fangirls would be after her as well.

She wasn't quite sure which was worse, but decided that now was not the time to dwell on the matter.

Her eyes widened. "My book bag!" She hurriedly turned around in her seat. "My stuff! And my homework!"

Austin's head popped up next to hers. "Oops," he said sheepishly as he eyed Ally's fallen bag on the ground.

But then they both breathed a sigh of relief as Trish bent down and picked it up, rolling her eyes exasperatedly as she shouldered it and began walking toward her car.

"Austin," she said slowly, forcing her voice to sound steady and calm. He quickly recognized the tone as a warning one and got to talking.

"Look, I just wanted to say that I had a lot of fun during our..." he paused, hesitant to refer to their last outing as a 'date', "dinner last night. And I realized that I kind of... messed things up when I kissed you last night. Even though!" He broke off, pointed a finger, and looked at her very seriously, "It was _barely_ even a peck on the cheek. Barely."

Ally relaxed and studied him for a moment. Once she was sure that he was being earnest with his apology, she gave him a small smile. "I know. You were just messing with me. Sorry for... going crazy on you..."

"So you're not mad anymore?" he asked hopefully.

She rolled her eyes. "It's hard to stay mad at you when you keep apologizing and looking at me with those puppy dog eyes."

"I am _so_ going to win you over," Austin smirked, referring back to his promise when he first met her. "I still plan on making you my biggest fan, ya know." His smirk widened.

The brunette gave a derisive snort and rolled her eyes. "Argh. Help, I'm being suffocated by your conceit."

He laughed good-naturedly and then he cleared his throat to grab her attention. "Look, Ally," Austin said, his voice taking on a serious note. "I wanted to ask you something else, too..."

She blinked at the Austin's sudden mood change. "Um, yeah. Sure, what is it?"

"I want an honest critique. I just... I want you to tell me why you don't like my music."

Ally stared at him, completely stunned. "I'm sorry?" she spluttered, blinking rapidly.

Austin shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "Just... you know, give me an honest review about my music and... stuff."

She puffed out a cheek and regarded him for a moment.

Finally, a firm, "_No._"

Austin sat there, stunned. "And why not?" Seriously, this girl continued to throw him off his game. Nobody said 'NO' to Austin Moon! Not that he was spoiled; he was just used to getting what he asked for.

Okay, so maybe he was a tad bit spoiled. Whatever.

"You can't handle the truth," Ally declared, a flair of drama in her voice.

He glared at her. "Yes, I can."

She scoffed and leaned back into her seat. "You're not used to criticism," she pointed out, crossing her arms coolly.

Austin fought the urge to run his hands over his face in frustration. They were finally starting to get along so well! So what the hell was this?

"There's a first for everything," he said through gritted teeth. He ran his hand through his hair and sighed. "Look, I know my music isn't taken seriously, okay? My fanbase is a big clue to all of that. But… I _want_ it to be taken seriously. I _need_ it to be taken seriously," he said quietly.

Ally hesitated. She hadn't know how aware he was of his own situation. She was almost impressed, but mostly relieved that he wasn't as ignorant as she thought. "So you know you produce fluffy crap for music, right?" she asked bluntly.

He winced. "Well… I wouldn't say that…"

"See!" she accused, pointing at him sharply, "You can't handle it! I'm not about to tear you down if you can't build yourself back up again!" She looked at him and sighed.

Austin shook his head. "You're the only person that's ever been straight or honest with me about my music! I need your feedback!"

Ally frowned at that. "Wait. Nobody's ever told you that those songs aren't... particularly good? Aren't your music producers supposed to tell you that? Or something?"

He chuckled bitterly. "A lot of my songs aren't things I'm proud of. My entire first album? More than half of it was bad songs that were rejected by bigger names. But they gave them to me because I was young and new and nobody thought I'd make it, anyway. It's a miracle that thing sold so much, to be honest."

Ally stayed silent, feeling worse and worse as the minutes passed. She always took him for some shallow teen, too dumb and deaf to realize how awful his own music was.

"My second album wasn't much better and I start recording my third album in a few months." He sighed and looked at her, eyes glittering with determination. "I want to be proud of my third album," he said softly.

She looked at him, confused. "I don't know why you're turning to me for help," she murmured with a hard swallow. "I don't know how to help you."

He shrugged and gave her a small, encouraging smile. "A second opinion can't hurt. And you'll be completely honest because you're not trying to make money off of me," he pointed out.

And she wanted to say '_No. NONONO. No. Nopity-nope-nope._' She really, really did. But then she made the grave mistake of catching his eye. And goshdarnit, those were a seriously intense pair of puppy dog eyes he happened to be sporting.

_Argh. Seriously, they're the worst._

She opened her mouth but when Austin pushed out his lower lip even further and furrowed his eyebrows in desperate hope, she could feel the protest and fight dying in her throat. She opened and closed her mouth a few times and then deflated in her seat.

"I hate you," she finally grumbled.

Austin's eyes widened in confusion and he scampered over to join her on the same seat. "What does that mean?" he breathed, leaning in on her.

"It means I'll do it," she mumbled, scrunching up her nose in immense displeasure. She scooted as far away from him as possible.

"_YES_!" he shouted in triumph. He launched himself at her, enveloping her in a gigantic, bone-crushing bear hug. "_THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU_."

"Wa-ah!" Ally cried as she toppled over from Austin's unexpected weight and over-whelming hug.

He buried his nose in her hair. "You are the best!"

"Austin!" she groaned. "Don't tell me this is going to happen every time I agree do do something for you!"

He opened his eyes and lifted his head to properly look down at her. "Oh," he muttered sheepishly. "Sorry."

She gave him a deadpan stare. "I'd like to sit up now."

Austin chuckled a little and sat back up, pulling her up as well. "This is gonna be great! Besides, you work at that music store, you must know _something_ about music," he teased.

She rolled her eyes and was about to reply with a snarky comment when something hit her. "Wait, so why _were_ you in Sonic Boom dressed like some sort of flashing creep anyway?"

All traces of joy and amusement dropped from Austin's features. "Dude. You ever gonna let that one go?"

"Never." She quirked an eyebrow at him challengingly.

"Fine." Austin rolled his eyes. "Anyway, I was trying to get away from my fans," he admitted with a smile of embarrassment.

She raised an eyebrow at him. "You were trying to avoid your fans and when you ran into someone who _wasn't_ a fan, it upset you?" she asked, her voice slow and dry.

He waved a hand airily. "We're getting off topic," he paused for dramatic effect and Ally raised an eyebrow at his antics, "Look, the thing is, I want to catch people's attention with this album. I want them to stop and really listen but that's still not enough. I want…" he huffed, struggling with words, "I don't know," he admitted. "I just… I want everything to be bigger and better and I want people to pay attention."

"You want people to do a double take..." she breathed, eyes widening as a sudden rush of lyrics hit her.

He snapped his fingers and pointed at her excitedly. "YES. _YES_," he shouted with fervor, "That's _it_!" His eyes shined brightly as a wide grin split across his face.

"Austin," she said sharply, "I need some paper and a pen! Right now!" Ally looked around the limo and

silently cursed the fact that she didn't have her songbook on her.

He blinked in confusion. "Why?" he asked.

"Because!" Ally blurted, wringing her hands around, "I need to write down these lyrics before I forget them!"

If possible, Austin lit up even more. "You're going to write me a song?!" And then the words sunk in. "Wait! You write songs?!"

"Sometimes! But I can't find anything to write with!" Ally pointed out. And then she glared at him. "Because a _certain someone_ made me drop my book bag! Which happened to be full of writing supplies!"

Austin quickly scrambled in his seat. "Uh, um. Oh!" He leaned forward and pulled something out from under the seat and a permanent black marker from his pocket. "Here!" He shouted as he shoved the items into her small hands.

She looked at the marker in her right hand and then to the grinning head shot of the boy if front of her in her other hand. She slowly lowered the picture and her eyes flickered over to meet Austin's. Not to her surprise, he had on the exact same grin as his professional head shot.

"Really?" Ally deadpanned.

His smile slipped a fraction. "What?" he asked defensively. "I don't have anything else to write on!"

She rolled her eyes and flipped to the blank back of the picture. She quickly scribbled down some lyrics, eyes flying back and forth, lips pursed in concentration.

Austin watched her work in mesmerized silence. He watched as she paused every so often, tapping the marker in irritation, before continuing to write. He smiled to himself as she started to bite her lip, eyebrows furrowed as she focused on her song. When she finally stopped to reread her work, he leaned forward.

"Are you done?" he whispered quietly, afraid that by being too loud, it could break her concentration.

She nodded and looked at him, a triumph smile playing across her lips. "I can't remember the last time I was so inspired to write a song this fast!" she laughed.

His breath caught and he swallowed nervously with a quick shake of his head. "Can I read it?" he finally managed.

Ally immediately sobered. "Well. Um. I… I don't know if you'll like it," she murmured, suddenly becoming shy.

He smirked at her, eyebrow raising to disappear behind his bangs. "What? Are you embarrassed to show me your song?" he teased.

She blushed and bit the inside of her lip. "Kind of," she said honestly.

He blinked in surprise. "Really?"

Ally hesitated. "Well… I've never shown someone my songs before… I mean, my dad's heard me practice a few of them here and there, but that's about it," she admitted. "No one else, really."

"Oh."

"It's okay if you end up hating it," she sighed, "I wrote it pretty fast, some of the lyrics are kind of clumsy and it's a little amatur—hey!"

Austin chose to ignore her, snatching the song out of her hands with a quick flick of his wrist. He held up his picture as he read the song; Ally averted her eyes so she wouldn't have to stare into the mischievous eyes of Austin's head shot.

She'd already seen the real deal more than she'd ever cared for in this increasingly bizarre week.

Ally bit her lip to keep from biting her hair and started picking at her split ends to try to keep herself preoccupied.

"Stop it!" Austin muttered, not looking up from the lyrics.

"Stop what?"

"Your foot tapping!"

She looked down at her leg, which was jerking up and down, tapping out an inane rhythm. "Oh. Sorry." And then she glared at him. "Jeez. Does it always take you this long to read something?"

That made him tear his eyes away and he looked at her in offense. "Hey! I'm just trying to focus on the lyrics, okay?"

Ally rolled her eyes. "Whatever," she muttered.

"Wow," he breathed as he finally finished.

Ally froze. Her eyes widened as she chanced a glance at him. "Well?" she asked quietly. "What did you think?"

He looked at her, completely and utterly awestruck. "Well, lyrically, it's a lot better than most of my other songs," he laughed.

Her cheeks flushed and her chest swelled with joy. "You really think so?"

Austin nodded. "Yeah, absolutely!"

Her lips curved into a smile and she giggled. "Well, I'm glad you like the song! I can fix some of the lyrics later, if you want."

He shook his head and insisted that it was perfect, making her blush. After a bit, he looked at her and sighed. "Hey, Ally? Are you... are you sure you want to just _give_ me this song?"

She shrugged. "It's not like I'll ever be performing it." When he frowned, she rolled her eyes. "Besides, I think that song's better for you than for me."

His eyebrows furrowed thoughtfully. "Ally?"

"Yes?"

He frowned at her and blinked in confusion. "You don't ever... perform your own songs?" His eyebrows knitted together even further as he studied her quietly.

Ally appeared startled by the question. But then she shook her head and sighed. "I like writing. I don't like being in the spotlight," she replied softly.

Austin wanted to press the matter, wanted to ask her why if she wrote totally awesome songs like this one, but there was a sadness in her eyes that made him stop and respect her privacy, especially considering the rocky start to their friendship thus far.

So instead, he just smiled at her sincerely and thanked her once more, feeling his heart skip a beat when she returned his smile with a brilliant one of her own.


	4. It's Where His Instruments Are

A/N: Yay, filler chapter!

But I also wanted to thank all you who have supported this fic thus far. I don't always pay attention to it, but you guys always seem to and that's something, right? It means a lot to me that you guys are so patient and continue to come back. I give up on myself a lot but I really don't want to give up on this fic, and I especially don't want to give up on you guys.

Jimmy is Austin's manager because I didn't feel like creating a new character to be his manager.

I no longer know what I'm doing nor do I know what I'm writing. And without further ado, continue on, gentle readers!

* * *

><p>The limo stopped and parked in front of a building that Ally didn't recognize. It was nice, if not slightly plain-looking, for a building. And while it wasn't in a shady or sketchy part of town—meaning she had no reason to be nervous—her curiosity was definitely piqued.<p>

Ally frowned and turned to her blond companion inquisitively. "Where are we?" she asked.

"A recording studio," he answered simply. He got out of the limo and held the door open for her.

She stepped out and ignored his offered hand, staring in slight awe at the building, never expecting to ever find herself in front of a recording studio. Austin stared at his hand and quickly shot it up to the back of his neck as Ally turned back around to face him, catching only the tail end of his seemingly random move. He gave her an awkward smile while she gave him an odd look.

"I thought you recorded your albums in L.A.?" she questioned as he shut the limo door and they began up the walkway, their fancy ride driving off behind them.

"Well, I do. But my manager and I both agreed that we need to re-invent my sound before I become permanently etched in musical history as nothing but a teen pop idol."

She raised an impressed eyebrow. "And you reached that conclusion? All on your own?"

"Okay, those were his words," he admitted.

She snickered.

He rolled his eyes good-naturedly. "So anyway, I decided to take a break from L.A. for a bit. I'll work out some songs and demos and when I figure out a track listing, I'll go back home and record the whole thing," Austin explained, leading the way as they pass the lobby. He gave a friendly and casual wave to the lady behind the desk and that seemed sufficient enough as she let them continue without another word.

Her eyebrows furrowed as she followed behind dutifully. "You haven't got anything else going on in L.A.?"

"No, nothing at the moment. I released my second album a while ago, finished a tour this summer, and Jimmy thinks it's about time for a bit of a break. I'll just play the occasional concert here and there so I'll still be in the public eye. Most of them are for charity, which I think is pretty cool." He shot her a bemused look over his shoulder. "You really don't follow my career, do you?" There's a hint of amusement laced through his voice, but mostly, he sounded incredulous.

Her eyebrows furrowed. "I told you I wasn't a fan," she reminded him. "Trish, however, could probably tell me your entire life story," she scoffed with an exasperated roll of her eyes.

Austin laughed. "Does she want an autograph or anything? I can give her some free Austin Moon merchandise," he offered with a self-satisfied smirk.

She shook her head. "Nah. She'll probably just sell everything online and make money off your generosity." She pointed a finger at him warningly. "Don't let her bully you into giving her any free stuff."

He scrunched up his features and frowned. "Noted," he said with a slow, understanding nod.

"So how long do you think you're gonna stay in Miami? It's your hometown, right?"

The comment surprised him. "Yeah, it is. You remembered?" he asked with a slow smile.

"It's kind of hard to forget a conversation with you," she admitted begrudgingly under her breath. A nervous hand reached up to fiddle with a strand of her hair.

The smile widened and he chuckled. "Anyway, I don't know how long I'll be staying in Miami, to be honest. It kinda just depends, I guess," he said with a shrug.

"Oh. Okay." She maintained a nonchalant air as they rounded a corner.

"Why?"

"No reason," she replied, almost a smidgen too quickly.

He stopped and swiveled his head to look at her. "Will you miss me when I'm gone?" he asked in a teasing manner, a corner of his mouth quirking upwards into a lopsided smile.

She eyed him wearily as she also came to a stop. "It's a little too early to tell," she muttered, rubbing her arm self-consciously.

He laughed merrily and shrugged one of his shoulders. "Well, we're here," he hummed as he twisted the knob of the door in front of him. He gestured for her to walk through the door first and he followed in behind her, shutting the door once they were both in the room.

Dez was sitting in a chair, fiddling with some switches on a soundboard. Across the room, a man that Ally didn't recognize sat in a chair, back turned to them, talking into his phone.

She blinked and turned to Austin. "Who's that?" she whispered. "Is that your manager?"

Austin nodded. "Yeah. That's Jimmy. I'll introduce you in a moment, once he gets off the phone," he answered quietly into her ear.

He placed a gentle hand on the small of her back, with the intention of leading her over to Dez, and she nearly jumped from the feather-light touch. She quickly shuffled over to the redhead so Austin's hand would fall away.

Dez perked up and looked away from his object of distraction. "Austin, you're here!" he cried happily, eyes lighting up like a little boy's. And then his eyes settled on Ally and his expression immediately soured. "You just had to bring the kidney-puncher, didn't you?" he asked snottily, shaking his had back and forth in complete disdain.

Ally's eyebrows shot up. But before she could say anything, Austin slid in front of her, eying his friend with a stern expression. "Dez, c'mon, play nice."

Dez pouted and sighed. "Okay." He turned to the brunette and in the dullest tone he could manage, he said, "Dearest Ally, you've stolen my best friend away, and you've punched me with your tiny—yet oddly strong—fist, right in the kidney. Despite all your wrong-doings, I suppose I'll forgive you because Austin seems to like you. And he thinks your hair is pretty."

Austin's eyes widened and his cheeks flared up. "_Dez!_" he hissed embarrassingly.

"What? It's true." The oblivious boy blinked, not understanding the blond's sudden mortification.

He quickly snapped his head over to Ally, who looked at him with amusement drawn all over her features. "That's just Dez for ya! Always, uh, jokin' around," he mumbled, hand reaching up to scratch at the back of his neck, something Ally had flagged down as a sign of nervousness. "Ha ha," he chuckled humorlessly as his eyes bounced all around the small room, unable to meet hers.

Ally smiled and examined the colored end of a lock of her hair. She looked back up at him and tilted her head to the side, unaware of how cute it made her look. "You think it's pretty?"

The blond coughed and the tips of his ears turned red. "I, uh, may have complimented your hair... off-handedly at some point since we've met," he continued in his nervous mumble.

The brunette beamed even brighter. "Thanks," she said softly, sincerity shining in her eyes.

Austin relaxed and returned her smile shyly. "You're welcome."

"And my apology goes unnoticed," Dez grumbled under his breath, as the two continued looking at each other. He sighed dramatically to himself. "The life of a redhead is a difficult one, Dez, but you most shake it off and learn how to persevere."

"Okay! Sorry about that!" a deep voice boomed, making Austin and Ally jump slightly.

Dez stopped narrating his woeful life as a redhead under his breath and turned his attention to the adult.

Jimmy stood up and pocketed his cellphone as he looked at Austin. "Hey, Austin! You're back," he grinned. And then he seemed to notice the new face in the room as his eyes zeroed in on the suddenly shy and uncomfortable brunette. Jimmy stalked across the room and held out a hand and made sure to keep his tone and grin friendly, not that he ever wasn't, he was just extra careful not to spook the young girl. "Hi, I'm Jimmy. How are you?"

"Oh, um, hi. I'm Ally," she replied, placing her small hand in his much larger one and shaking it. "I'm well, how are you?" she returned politely.

"Pretty good," he answered before letting go of her hand. "You a friend of Austin's, then?"

"She's a fan—oof!"

She quickly shot Austin an annoyed look and retracted her elbow from his side before meeting Jimmy's eyes again. "Friend? Sure, you can call me that. Why not?"

"Right..." Jimmy gave the two an odd look.

The blond winced and rubbed none too subtly at the area. He cleared his throat and straightened up as he regarded his manager. "So, anything good?" he asked hopefully.

"Well, I listened to some of the new songs the studio e-mailed us and... I turned all of them down," he answered bluntly as he redirected his attention to the pop star.

Austin's shoulders slumped and he ran his hands over his face. "That bad?" he asked, clearly disappointed.

"Yeah. Every single one of them," the manager frowned. "You wanna take a listen? Fair warning, though, they all sound like they've been written by ten year-olds."

"It's three notches down from songs by thirteen year-olds," Dez chimed in.

"Not helping, Dez," Austin and Jimmy chorused with a roll of their eyes.

"Right, back to these really fun switches," he said, turning his attention back to the soundboard. He hummed happily to himself as he played with delicate fingers.

Austin sighed and shook his head at Jimmy. "No, I trust you. If you said they weren't any good, I'll take your word for it." The pop star turned to the patient brunette with an apologetic look in his eyes. "Sorry, I thought it'd be fun if we could listen to some demos together... I didn't realize they'd all be horrible."

"It's okay," she said gently. "I feel worse for you. It's your career and you can't even find a decent song to help re-shape your career," she pointed out lightly, trying to ease the mood a bit.

He gave a dry chuckle at that. "True, true. But now I feel like I'm wasting your time," he admitted with a slight wince.

Her eyebrows shot up and she looked at him incredulously. "That thought's just _now_ occurring to you?" she snorted.

Austin looked like he was about to retort but immediately perked up instead. "Wait! Hang on!" And he rummaged through the inner pocket of his blazer for a second. "We do have this!" he offered excitedly, holding out the folded head shot of himself to his manager.

Jimmy took it from his hands and stared at it in confusion. "Uh, Austin? I don't really need a head shot of my own client..."

He rolled his eyes and flipped the picture over in the older man's hands. "No! There's a song on the back."

Ally's eyes widened and she leaned over to reach for her song. "Oh, no. I'm sure that song's not much better than—"

Jimmy jerked the song out of the way and gave the blushing girl an odd look. "Did you write this?" he asked with a knowing grin.

She winced and crossed her arms loosely across her waist, suddenly feeling very, very anxious. "Maybe," she murmured quietly, barely audible under her breath.

"It's not bad," Jimmy said thoughtfully as he read over the song. "The lyrics are repetitive and fun so they're easy to remember and if the composition's catchy enough like these lyrics, it can definitely get stuck in a lot of people's heads..."

"Really?" Ally perked up at his words. A slow and careful smile drew across her lips. "I know the lyrics are a bit simple, but I was trying to write something that Austin could enjoy singing. You think it could turn into something cool?"

Jimmy shrugged and grinned secretively at her. "Probably."

Austin turned to her, pride rolling off him in waves. "Told you it wasn't bad!" he laughed with an encouraging grin. A thought suddenly struck him as he studied her carefully. "Hey. You ever do any composing?" he asked curiously.

She shifted her weight from foot to foot shyly. "Um, I have..." Her eyes narrowed at him suspiciously. "Why do you ask?"

His entire being lit up with excitement and she could see the exuberant gleam in his eyes. His hands clapped down on her shoulders, drawing her in a little. "Ally, _we_ should compose the song together! I may not know how to write lyrics, but I know music and instruments and I can definitely help you compose the song!"

Her eyes widened and she shook her head frantically. "I don't think that's—"

Austin rolled his eyes and waved off her protests with an annoyed jerk of his head. "What's the worst that can happen? It doesn't work out, it doesn't work out. But a joint effort between us can't be much worse than anything else I've released in the past!"

Ally stayed silent, not sure what to say. Her mouth opened once, twice, a third time. And then instead of choosing words, she chose to nibble on her bottom lip uncertainly.

His eyes softened and his hands ran down her shoulders to rest on her upper arms, giving her a small shake, as if he was trying to get her to come to her senses. "Ally. I'm tired of waiting around, okay? It's about time I started doing something about my own career," he continued. And she could hear the fierce determination in his words as he tried to earnestly persuade her.

She made the mistake of looking him in the eye, saw the pure, unadulterated hope brimming in them. It was ridiculous; the amount of pressure and trust this random pop star was putting on her. How could he believe in her so blindly, and so faithfully, when she hadn't even proven herself to him—or anyone—yet? How did he know that this was going to work? That they could compose something worth releasing? That it would even sell as a single?

He didn't.

But he was willing to try.

And then it hit her: that's where they differed.

_He was willing to try._

A nagging little voice in the back of her mind laughed at his efforts, pointed out that he must be woefully, hilariously, desperate if he was coming to _her_, a complete _nobody_, for help.

But thing of the matter was... there was no desperation in his eyes. As far as she could tell, he genuinely believed in her, and was hoping that she'd agree to work with him on this song.

"Ally?" he murmured quietly, eyebrows starting to furrow in worry.

Hearing her name stirred her from her internal debate and she blinked owlishly at him. "Sor—sorry," she apologized softly. "I didn't mean to space out on you." He gave her a smile, as if to tell her that it was okay and she returned it shakily. "Can I—can I think about it, at least?" she whispered after swallowing the nervous lump in her throat.

Austin's eyes searched through hers and he nodded. "Yeah, sure. No problem" he said in an understanding tone. But his smile quickly became strained and she knew he was putting on a front after her slightly disappointing answer. He moved his hands from her arms and he turned to move away from her, but she quickly latched her timid fingers around one of his wrists. His eyebrows shot up and he slowly turned back around to face her again.

"I thought about it," she suddenly blurted, the words jumping out of her mouth, and her heart out of her chest, before she could really comprehend what was happening. The only thing she _could_ comprehend was that she didn't want to disappoint him, not after that look and his eyes and those words.

Shock and surprise etched themselves into his features. "And?" he whispered, a nervous, expectant edge to his voice.

She braced herself and answered, somewhat breathlessly, "I'll do it."

The grin he gave her was so wide, she was almost scared it would break his face. He gathered her up into his arms and into a bone-crushing hug as he mumbled an excited chorus of _ThankyouThankyouThankyous_ into her ear.

Ally blinked in rapid succession, ignoring the intrigued looks Dez and Jimmy eyed the both of them with, as her slender arms reached up to return his hug in a tentative and timid manner. "I think you're being too hasty," she sighed. "Thank me _after_ the song is finished and if it doesn't completely suck," she said sarcastically once he let go of her.

He gave her an exasperated look, but it was off-set by the grin still stretched across his lips. "I have faith in you," he shot back. The simplicity of the statement, along with a certain sense of finality in his tone, rendered her speechless.

Jimmy grinned from his spot, having quietly witnessed the whole ordeal. "Well, I'm sure this is going to be quite the experience. Look, Ally, if it doesn't work out—"

"And it will," Austin interjected with a firm, reassuring tone. He met her uncertain gaze, unintentionally making her stomach do a flip.

"—at least you two will have fun writing the song together, right?"

She suddenly felt very woozy as she shot the two of them an incredibly uncomfortable smile. "Oh man," she started with a crazed, hollow laugh, "I am _so _going to regret this."

* * *

><p>The limo was currently taking her to her house, after a quick detour to the mall where she picked up her stuff from Trish at her current place of employment. She'd managed to convince him to put off the writing and composing session until the next day, claiming homework and chores to be an important part of a <em>normal <em>teenager's life. Plus, she was going to have to make an especially delicious dinner for her father to make up for skipping out on another day of work.

"Look, I'm just telling you, it's all very unnecessary."

But at the moment, they were in a heated discussion.

"I like the limo," Austin bit out, crossing his arms.

"It's too flashy!" Ally pointed out.

"I _like_ flashy," he countered with a mild scowl.

She rolled her eyes and mirrored him. "You can't keep picking me up in it! It's ridiculous and I know you have fun riling up your fans, but those are my classmates, okay? And I really, really don't want to have to put up with their stupid questions or ridiculous rumors," she explained in a pleading tone, trying to get him to see reason. "I'm already dreading tomorrow," she admitted quietly.

He deflated at that last part. He knew how stupid and sucky rumors could be and he honestly didn't want to have to put her through that. "Okay, okay," he relented with a small sigh. "You're right. It's not fair to you. I'll... rent a normal car tomorrow when I pick you up, alright?" he says, finally giving in.

Ally relaxed and uncrossed her arms. "Thank you. I'd really appreciate that," she said as she smiled at him genuinely.

He started to return the smile when he was interrupted.

"You guys are so cute when you solve your problems," a certain redhead cooed, his chin cupped in hand and his elbow propped up on his knee. "Just like a sweet, young married couple."

Two sets of brown eyes widened and the blond and brunette whirled around to face the forgotten third wheel of sorts, sitting all by his lonesome in the seat across from them. Identical blushes bloomed across their cheeks and they gaped at him in sheer embarrassment.

"Dez, you can't be serious," Austin said, the words barely left his mouth in a coherent manner.

"I'm as serious as a Hefty bag full of rottweilers," Dez replied solemnly.

Ally turned to Austin, frowning in confusion. "I don't know what that means," she confessed quietly behind the back of her hand.

"Neither do I," he shot back from the corner of his mouth. He eyed his friend's sober expression wearily. "Shut up," was his witty comeback.

Dez chuckled. "Don't mind me," he said casually with his hands held up in mock surrender. And then he pulled out his flip cam and pressed the record button. "Just be yourselves," he encouraged with a happy little hum, watching them through the device.

Austin glared into the lens and snatched the camera out of Dez's hand irritably. He shut it off and shoved the equipment in the inner pocket of his blazer, despite Dez's whining. He turned back to Ally, ignoring his pouting friend. "Right, anyway, no limos, got it."

"Promise?" Ally asked with a cheeky grin.

"Promise." He rolled his eyes, but the smile he gave her took away from the effect.

"Thank you," she laughed as the limo rolled to a stop outside her house. She grabbed her stuff sitting beside her and opened the door, stepping out carefully. "Bye, Austin. Bye, Dez. See you guys tomorrow!"

"Bye!" Austin said with a wave of his hand. She shot him one last smile and shut the door gently. The blond watched her walk up the driveway and skip up the porch steps. He waited until she had made it safely inside before he settled back into his seat comfortably. He looked ahead and faltered when he saw Dez staring back at him, smugly and knowingly. "What?" he snapped with furrowed brows, clearly annoyed.

Dez didn't say a word, just continued his smug and knowing stare as the limo started on its way again.

Fed up, Austin finally rolled his eyes and threw the flip cam back at his friend. "Not another word," he bit out in a warning tone.

* * *

><p>Ally looked out from the little side window to the left of her door, her eyes following the black vehicle until it was out of sight. She relaxed with a deep breath and started up the stairs, but halfway up them, she frowned and stomped back down the stairs.<p>

She knew that she had homework to do, that she was a day behind due to Austin's antics, but an idea for their song was already starting to form in her head. She pulled out her songbook and unceremoniously dumped the rest of her belongings onto the couch as she ran through the living room, making her way into the basement, where the piano was.

Ally took a seat on the bench, smoothed her skirt down, and stared at the black and white keys. She inhaled, exhaled, and finally, she got to work, images of a boyish smirk invaded her mind's eye and fueled her inspiration.

* * *

><p>The next day at school, Ally found a crowd surrounding her locker. She stopped in front of them, blinked at her peers, and cleared her throat loudly. "Um, excuse me?" she called hesitantly.<p>

The highschoolers turned around and gasped at the sight of the brunette. They quickly left her dull locker and flocked to her side, instead.

Ally gave a small scream of terror as she suddenly became bombarded with questions.

"How do you know Austin Moon?"

"You should hook us up!"

"Why did Austin Moon pick you up yesterday?!"

"I want to touch his hair so badly!"

"When did you get _so cool?!_"

Ally gaped soundlessly as her wide, terrified eyes skipped from person to person, everyone shouting rapid-fire questions at her. She quickly became overwhelmed and immediately gave up on trying to answer any of their inquiries.

Suddenly, a loud whistling screeched through the air, causing everyone to wince. Their shouting quieted to a low murmur and they were effectively silenced when a hideously loud roar told them all to "_SHUT THE HELL UP_".

Ally whirled around and nearly collapsed with relief when she saw her best friend taking care of the situation.

Trish made her way to Ally's side and crossed her arms. Her eyes narrowed into threatening slits at the crowd. "Yeah, Ally knows Austin Moon. Who cares? Leave her the hell alone, alright? If any of you sick fucks continue to harass her about this and I find out, I swear to God I will make you forget who Austin Moon ever was. And you idiots don't wanna know exactly _how _I'll make you forget, if you catch my drift."

Every single pair of eyes widened; everybody knew not to mess with Trish de la Rosa.

"Now fucking scatter!" she bellowed as she jerked forward at them, like she was about to attack.

The entire crowd dispersed and she took a second to admire her handiwork. She huffed on her nails and buffed them on her shirt in a thoroughly smug manner. "I am awesome," she stated proudly to herself.

Ally gave the shorter girl a crushing hug to show her gratitude. "Thank you, thank you, thank you," she repeated breathlessly. "I really owe you one," she said as she let go. The taller brunette took inhaled deeply and made her way to her locker, now that she could actually reach it. "Oh my God, I thought I was going to have an anxiety attack," she muttered, working on the combination.

Trish grinned and shrugged casually. "It was fun," she laughed. And then she gave her friend a sly look. "So...?"

Ally's fingers accidentally skipped past the final number at her friend's overly suggestive tone. She frowned and restarted the combination. "So, what?" she asked carefully, eyes focused on the black and white dial.

"You two hanging out again tonight?"

With her locker finally open, she turned to the shorter girl. "Um. Yeah, actually, we are," she admitted in a nonchalant tone.

With a scandalized gasp, she elbowed the taller girl playfully. "Like on another date?"

Ally quickly shook her head, blushing furiously. "No, no! He wants help composing a song. You know, for his new album." She sighed and rubbed one of her temples tiredly. "I have something down, but I don't know. It's pretty slow, so he may want to speed it up a little," she muttered.

"You're helping him with his new album?" she asked excitedly. "No way! That's totally awesome!" she enthused.

She shook her head. "Surprisingly, not awesome. Nerve-wracking, really. Stressful. Horrible. And other negative adjectives." Ally ran a hand through her hair. "I don't even know if this is going to work out okay. What if Austin doesn't like the song? What if he does, just to be nice, but no one else does? What if it doesn't even sell any copies?" she rambled. Another dozen or so scenarios ran through her head. All of them ending in disaster. "Oh my God, Trish. I feel really, really sick," she breathed, rapidly paling.

"Ally!" Trish laughed. "If it's good enough for him to release as a single, it'll sell. He's _Austin Moon! _He's sold tons of bad pop songs before!"

She frowned. "Not helping."

"Besides, if it's really that bad and he doesn't end up recording it, then you just dodged a bullet because no one will have to hear your crappy song!"

The frown deepened. "Still not helping."

Trish rolled her eyes and gave her friend a reassuring smile. "You're worrying too much."

Ally exhaled shakily and nodded. "You're right. I am. And yet, I can't quite stop."

"He'll love it, I'm sure," she said with an air of finality.

"See, that's really sweet of you, but we both know that the last time you heard one of my songs, it was when we were six. And it was about candy. About how much I wanted to eat candy." She looked at her shorter friend with a pointed stare. "A six year-old's song about _loving and eating _candy, Trish."

A grimace appeared on the shorter girl's face. "Yeaah, not your best. Your butterfly song was actually better." Her eyes narrowed curiously. "You, uh, didn't _regress _in your song writing skills, did you?"

Ally face palmed. "I'm starting to wonder, myself."

"Oh, c'mon, Ally. I'm just kidding," she chuckled. "I'm sure your lyrics are fine and you've always been good at melodies and composing and just tinkering around with instruments." She shrugged. "I mean, how bad could it _really _be?"

Ally shook her hair out of her eyes and squared her shoulders. "I guess we'll find out soon enough," she muttered ominously with an overly dark expression.

Trish pulled a face at her friend's dramatics.

* * *

><p>Thanks to Trish's threats and warnings, nobody approached Ally for the rest of the day. Her friend's threats could not, however, prevent overly loud whispering and obscenely rude staring from the entire student body, she found out.<p>

It bothered her, being at the center of attention like that, but she realized that she'd rather have that than a constant barrage of hilariously stupid and annoyingly repetitive questions about her sudden friendship with a teen pop star. A large amount of them had to do with his hair, for whatever reason.

Ally enjoyed school, she did. But that was when she was able to blend it and walk from class to class without hundreds of pairs of eyes following her every move. This was quickly ruining her deep love and affection of education.

Argh, how did popular kids do it?

She shook her head and refocused. School had just let out and she was already at her locker, frantically tying to get her stuff together so she could leave the wandering eyes of her overly curious peers behind.

She sent a quick text to Trish, apologizing for not waiting up, but she really needed to leave the school before she heard one more whisper aimed at herself.

Her friend's reply was nearly instant, with words of understanding and a promise to further terrify their peers.

Ally laughed and asked Trish to promise not to go overboard.

Trish didn't respond back and Ally winced, but she really had to get going so with a resigned sigh, she grabbed what was needed from her locker and quickly marched to the school's parking lot, squaring her shoulders for another afternoon with Austin Moon.

Once she made it outside, she realized she had no idea how she could identify the pop star. Her shoulders sagged and her eyes scanned the busy parking lot uselessly.

At least the limo had made it glaringly obvious.

A car behind her suddenly honked and she spun around with a gasp, an apology already leaving her mouth.

"I'm so—"

She blinked at the familiar redhead and the famous blond waving excitedly at her from behind the window shield of a Toyota Camry.

"—sorry?" she finished in confusion.

Dez was in the driver's seat with one hand on the wheel and Austin sat in the passenger's seat. They both wore identical manic grins that made their waving way too enthusiastic.

But what really worried her was _Dez. In the driver's seat_.

Ally frowned and readjusted the strap of her book bag. "I don' think this is a good idea," she called out loudly with a raised eyebrow.

Austin rolled his eyes and lowered the window. He stuck his head out and gestured for her to come forward. "Oh, just get in. Dez may be a bit of a scatter-brain, but he's a safe driver."

"Oh?" she questioned tonelessly. She turned back to Dez who was dancing crazily in his seat. To absolutely no music. It looked like he was shaking invisible maracas. She pointed a finger at the redhead and turned back to Austin with a worried expression. "I'm not entirely convinced."

"I can drive," Austin offered with a shrug. Ally started to relax until his next words. "But I don't have a license yet," he added with a wicked grin.

"Dez can drive," she quickly said with a shake of her head.

The redhead stopped dancing with an abrupt jerk. "I can what?" he asked loudly, blinking owlishly.

Ally silently sent out a prayer to the powers that be for a safe drive. But if that was asking for too much, she was alright with just leaving the car in one piece after a, hopefully, short drive. She braced herself and walked around to the back seat, opening the door. She slid in and the second the door shut, Dez sped off.

Austin turned around to look at her with a bright expression. "How do you like the _not_-limo?"

Ally took a moment to exaggeratedly survey the interior of the car. "Lovely. Absolutely lovely, breath-taking, even. That questionable stain over there is probably my favorite feature. And these scratches on the leather?" She ran a hand over said scratches on the seat next to her. "Such a wonderful additional detail!"

Austin laughed and shook his head. "Glad it meets your approval, Miss Dawson."

"Really?! That stain's my favorite, too!" Dez grinned excitedly. "This is my aunt's car. That stain was from when I drank eight different flavors of Kool-aid and then puked!"

Austin and Ally both stared at the stain in the far corner and shuddered. "Urgh," they muttered in unison. Ally pressed her back against the corner of her seat and the car door, trying to put as much space between her and Dez's old puke stain as possible.

"So how was school?" Austin asked, trying to change the subject.

Ally rolled her eyes and looked at him tiredly. "Well, I'm suddenly the most popular subject of gossip. Thanks to you."

He blinked at her. "You are?"

She raised an eyebrow at him. "A teenage pop idol picking up a relatively boring classmate after school in the parking lot is grounds for a healthy discussion, apparently."

He furrowed his eyebrows. "I don't think you're boring," he stated firmly.

The corners of her lips quirked upwards into a tiny smile. "Thanks, I guess."

"Um." Austin hesitated. He turned around further in his seat, his chin settling into the seat as his cheek rested next to the headrest. "Are you mad?" he asked quietly. She stared at him questioningly and he scratched the back of his neck. "About... all the attention and gossip because of me?" he clarified.

Ally shook her head. "No," she admitted with a small shrug.

He perked up a bit. "Really?" He sounded hopeful.

"Really, I'm not mad," she promised with a reassuring smile. "The excitement will die down eventually and then things will get back to normal in no time. Besides," she paused, her smile widening, "Trish is having fun terrorizing anyone that so much as thinks about bothering me, so you're kind of doing her a favor."

"I don't want to know, do I?" he asked with an arched brow.

"Her threats can sometimes get... a little creative," Ally answered carefully.

He nodded slowly. "She, uh, sounds like a protective friend."

The brunette gave an airy laugh. "Her loyalty makes up for her laziness and lack of responsibility. She can be a bit much sometimes, but she's always been there for me when it counts," she explained with an affectionate grin.

"You should invite her, sometime," he suggested.

Ally's eyebrows shot up. "You'd let me bring her along?"

Austin shrugged and smiled at her. "Why not? She's your best friend, right?"

An excited expression crossed over her features. "I'd really like that. Thanks, Austin. She'll really appreciate it, too."

He sent her a small smirk. "And it'll be fun to hang out with my two biggest fans," he teased.

She glared at him. "Trish is your only fan between the two of us!" she snapped. He laughed, pleased that he had succeeded in riling her up. She rolled her eyes and decided to change the topic before he further ruffled her feathers. "So are we going back to the studio today?"

"Nope, we're going to my hotel."

"Wooow," she drew the word out, an eyebrow hiking up and up as his words sank in. "Trish was right. You'd be _way _creepy if it weren't for the cute pop star factor you've got going on."

Austin blushed and sputtered at her in horror. "Oh, c'mon! I'm not—I don't mean—not like—" He broke off, shifting in his seat uncomfortably. The tips of his ears were bright red, much to Ally's delight. "It's not supposed to be creepy!" he whined, cringing.

"Dude, it's a little creepy," Dez added airily, inadvertently coming to Ally's defense.

"Dez agrees!" she beamed. She aimed a pointed stare at the pop star.

Ally giggled at Dez's laugh and Austin's look of despair.

The pop star palmed his face and then blew out a huffy sigh, ruffling the tips of his bangs. "It's where my instruments are!" he protested.

Dez glanced at Ally's reflection in the rear view mirror. "That's what they all say," he joked.

"Dude! Whose side are you on?!" Austin hissed, turning to glare at his supposed friend.

"My own, man. It's hard for gingers out there. We can't trust anybody."

The blond rolled his eyes and turned back to the brunette. "Not creepy, promise."

Ally bit her bottom lip and nodded with a bemused eyebrow raised. "Uh huh." She didn't sound entirely convinced.

Dez rolled his eyes. "Ally, you _work_ at a music store. Can we go there?"

"Well, I do have a practice room upstairs," she answered. "It's... a little messy. And kind of small," she warned. "Probably nowhere near as fancy-schmancy as your hotel, Austin," she said with a light laugh.

"'Schmancy'?" Austin echoed with a furrow of his brows. "Do you people still say that?" he questioned as he turned to his friend.

"Indeedy-do," Dez sang.

The blond stared at the driver flatly. "I give up on you two and your nerdy sayings..." he mumbled after a beat.

Ally cleared her throat to grab the teen idol's attention. When his eyes were on her again, she continued, trying to keep the exasperation out of her voice. "Anyway, the piano is in good shape and my dad and I tune it regularly."

Austin grinned and nodded. "Okay, we should go there!"

She smiled brightly, happy with his decision. "And I can alternate between working on the song with you and helping my dad run the store!"

"Win-win-win," Dez chuckled. "Sonic Boom, it is."


	5. You'd Make a Fine Grace Kelly

I'm just going to thank Miss-Rainy-Skies for keeping me sane through-out this chapter.

* * *

><p>Dez found a great spot close to the entrance of the side of the mall with Sonic Boom and swiftly parked the car without any troubles. "Ba-bam, and that's how it's done, kids!" he cheered as he turned the keys and took them out of the ignition.<p>

"Very sweet parking job," Austin praised as he unbuckled his belt.

"Wait! Don't move!"

Dez froze, his enthusiastic cheering face plastered in place.

Austin stopped and turned around to face the owner of the demand. "Uh, what's up?" he asked.

"Austin," Ally started very seriously, before continuing, "What if someone recognizes you?"

He frowned. "Good point." He turned to look at Dez's face, which was rapidly turning colors. "Dude, breathe," he said with a roll of his eyes.

Dez blew out a lungful of air. "Oh thank God. Maybe I shouldn't have taken the freezing thing so literally."

The blond raised an eyebrow. "Ya think?" he deadpanned.

"Maybe you should wear a disguise. Do you have a hat or something?" Ally continued. "Hopefully, something a little more subtle than when _we _met," she reminded him in a wry tone as she gestured between their bodies with a pointed finger.

Austin rolled his eyes. "I can't believe you thought I was going to flash you," he muttered bitterly.

"I can't believe you thought it would be okay to step out in that ridiculous get-up," she shot back.

He glared at her. "Yeah, but you didn't have to jump to crazy conclusions!"

"You were _in a trench coat!_ And you had on huge sunglasses and a black hat! What was I supposed to think?!"

"And the trench coat is the universal uniform of a flasher?"

"Kinda, yeah!" she said, giving him a look that suggested that he should already be aware of this fashion faux-pas. "That, and, like, crazy people who have bombs strapped to their bodies!"

Austin gaped at her, mildly alarmed.

Dez made the sound of a plummeting whistle. "That got dark fast," he mumbled, mostly to himself.

"Who the heck even wears a trench coat in _Miami?!_" she finally yelled, throwing her hands up in the air.

Dez turned to look at Austin, face eerily calm. "She raises a fair point. It's a little suspicious."

"You're the one that suggested the freakin' trench coat!" Austin shouted, gesturing at the redhead with his hands, in angry chopping motions. "And now you're _siding _with her?!"

"Oh, yeeeah," he nodded as the memory came back to him. "Dude, that's _totally _my bad," he said with an embarrassed chuckle.

Ally held up a hand. "Let's back up a minute. You took fashion advice from Dez?" she asked slowly, as if she were trying to process the events that had gone down.

The boys shared a look. "Yeah," they chorused with identical, careless shrugs.

"Dez. The guy who wears pants _so_ neon and _so_ bright, that they put my highlighters to shame? _Dez. _The guy who pairs said pants with suspenders every time I've seen him?"

Dez threw her an offended look. "What about you? Think you're over-working the floral a little?" he sassed. He threw his head to the side, making his bangs flip from the action.

She looked down at her pink top and rose-covered teal skinny jeans. She frowned and crossed her arms. She sank in her seat and averted her gaze. "Floral is never going out of style," she muttered vehemently under her breath.

He didn't need to know that it pretty much dominated her closet until just about recently.

Austin massaged his temples tiredly. "Okay, you two are giving me a headache," he mumbled. "Dez, you got anything that might help disguise me?"

"Hang on," the redhead muttered, reaching over to open the glove compartment. He pulled out a pair of vintage cat eye sunglasses and a silk scarf that was a whirl of blues and purples. "... Well, this is all we've got," he said as he held them up. "You can thank my aunt."

Austin stared at them with a stoic expression. "I'll just risk it."

"Oh, I don't know," Ally said airily, imagining Austin in the get-up. "I think you'd make a fine Grace Kelly," she said, making a noise that was a cross between a snort and a giggle.

The blond turned around in his seat and gave her a bemused look. "Better than you," he shot back jokingly.

"You've got to admit, it's classier than your previous, winning look of 'perverse flasher'," she said dryly.

His eyes narrowed and he gave her a look that said _Don't start this again_, with the subtlest head shake.

"Does that mean you'll wear them?" Dez asked plainly as he nudged his friend with the scarf in hand.

Austin rolled his eyes, snatched the items out of his hands, and shoved them roughly into the glove department. "We're good. Let's go." He turned back around in his seat. "Ally, you—Ally?" He blinked in complete confusion when he found himself staring at an empty backseat, eyebrows furrowing. His head whipped back to the front and he saw Ally walking nonchalantly along the parking lot.

The blond and the redhead shared a confused look before quickly getting out of the car and following after the petite brunette.

He started waving after her. "Ally! Ally, wait up!" Austin shouted, attempting to jog over to her.

"_OH MY GOD. IS THAT AUSTIN MOON?!_"

His eyes widened at the sudden swarm of people surrounding him. On a busy weekday. In a spacious parking lot. Out in the open.

Ally turned back around and all she could really see was a flash of blond hair in the middle of a sea of overzealous fangirls practically clawing at him.

Dez was to the side, smiling evilly while he filmed.

"Dez! Ally! C'mon, guys, help me out here!" cried the desperate pop star. "Whoa! Okay! Hey, hey! Watch the _hands!_ If I promise to give you an autograph, will you _please stop touching me there?!_"

She snickered and made her way into the mall, a slight skip in her step.

* * *

><p>Ally entered Sonic Boom and nodded politely to the customer or two milling about, before making her way to her father, standing behind the counter.<p>

"Hey, Dad."

He turned around in surprise. "Ally! I thought you were going out on another date with that pop star?"

The smile on her face wiped away and she groaned exaggeratedly. "Daaad!" she whined. "Not you, too!"

Lester blinked. "Not me, what?"

"Austin and I are just friends," she muttered with a roll of her eyes.

"Oh," he said dumbly. "So you guys aren't dating?"

Ally shook her head. "I can assure you, we're not."

"Ah, alright then," he said with an understanding nod. "But I still thought you were going to be out today."

"Well, we decided it'd be easier for me if we hung out in the practice room, today," she explained. She smiled at him. "And that way, if you need my help with anything, I can just run down and ring up a customer!"

Lester's eyes softened at her. "Aw, thanks, hon. I really appreciate that."

She gave him a guilty look. "I know I haven't been the best employee these past few days... and I wanted to make up for it."

Mr. Dawson sighed and gestured around the now empty store. "Well, it's not like I really need the extra hand, anyway," he said sardonically.

Ally frowned and looked around the store. "Has it been slow all day?"

He nodded and sighed sadly. "For the most part," he muttered in annoyance. He checked his watch. "Ally, I'm going to go on a lunch break. Is that okay?"

She nodded. "Of course! I'll just do some cleaning while you're gone," she said with a smile.

Lester chuckled and made his way to the door. "Okay. See you in about an hour," he called over his shoulder.

"Bye, Dad!" she called as she watched him exit the store.

And then she quickly set to work before a certain pop star could escape his mob and find his way back to Sonic Boom.

* * *

><p>About half an hour later, Ally looked away from dusting a display case in the back to find Austin rushing into the empty store, with wild-looking eyes, hair that was mussed up in a way that was neither attractive nor appealing, distressed and wrinkled clothes, and—were those <em>kiss<em> marks on his cheeks and neck?

Ally gave him a once over. "That's a good look for you," she complimented, trying—and failing spectacularly—to keep the humor out of her voice.

"Ha ha," he laughed sarcastically with a roll of his eyes. He gulped down some air and ran a hand through his hair. It didn't help. "Thanks for your help, by the way," he added in a biting tone.

She shook her head pityingly. "You should have gone with Grace Kelly's iconic look," she sighed with a condescending click of her tongue. She ignored his glare and took note of their missing party member, "Hey, where's Dez?"

"I dunno. I lost him in all the crazy," he muttered. He rolled his eyes again and rubbed at a glossy lip imprint on his cheek in absolute irritation. "Sometimes I wonder why I did it."

Her eyes widened ever so slightly at his admission. "What? Become famous?" Ally asked in shock.

He nodded tiredly and walked over to the counter and hopped up to take a seat. "Especially since I don't even like half the music I've created..." he mumbled.

"There's a half you _like?_" she asked, sounding even more shocked. At his _Dude, you are _so_ not helping here_ expression aimed at her, she winced in guilt. "Sorry," she said sincerely. She walked over to the counter, making her way behind it to put away the dusting rag and glass cleaner. She leaned forward on her elbows and turned to look at him, giving him her full attention.

Austin perked up a little and leaned back on his arms. "But it's okay! I think things will get better with Jimmy as my new manager. And I'm sort of established enough that I can turn down bad demos without it really hurting my career!" he beamed. And then he lit up even further when he regarded Ally. "And you'll help me write awesome songs, right?"

"_Songs?!_" she repeated in alarm. Her eyes widened. "Austin... I didn't think there would be a plural," she muttered with furrowed brows. "I mean, we haven't even finished one yet."

He shrugged and swung his legs back and forth. "It's okay!" he said brightly. "That's why I'm here today, remember? To finish the first one!" he said with a wide, excited smile.

She smiled in fond exasperation at his optimism and shook her head a little. "Sure. We can go up to the practice room as soon as my dad gets back from his break."

Ally realized that Austin wasn't about to give up anytime soon, so she might as well give in without protesting _too _much.

* * *

><p>"Okay, so I actually have a few different options for the—Austin, are you listening?" she finished tiredly.<p>

"Yeah, sorry," he mumbled with a wrinkle of his nose. He pulled a face and, still feeling the sticky gloss on his cheek, his hand reached up and he rubbed at the spot with the back of his fist.

Not unlike a kitten, Ally noted with dry amusement. But he was _definitely _more like a puppy. She froze and her eyes widened at her own assessment.

She immediately shook those thoughts from her head and sighed. She turned to him on the piano bench and quickly grabbed his face with one hand, his chin in her palm as she squeezed his cheeks slightly.

His eyes popped out of their sockets and he sputtered at her. "What are—?!"

"Hold still," she murmured, leaning over to find her bag near the piano bench. With her other hand, she pulled out a wet wipe and held it up to his face. "If I get that lip gloss off your cheek, will you be able to focus?" she asked in a bored tone. An eyebrow lifted in slight teasing.

He swallowed apprehensively, but nodded, his face still in her small hand.

"Okay, good." And then she pulled his face closer so she could carefully wipe away the mess. Her eyes had long since left his, focused on the shimmery pink staining his skin.

Austin squirmed at the coldness on his cheek and his hands gripped the edge of their seat due to a sudden onslaught of nerves. He took a moment to take in her smooth, fair skin, the way her wavy hair framed her face so well, and how he was close enough to practically count each and every one of her impossibly long lashes.

"Hold _still_," she ordered softly, not noticing his staring.

"Sorry," he mumbled, directing his gaze to the floor. He wanted to continue studying her face, but felt like he wasn't allowed, not wanting to come off as 'creepy' like she and Trish had accused.

Her eyes darted to his and back. "Surely, the one and only Austin Moon isn't nervous?" she laughed.

He flushed and squirmed again. "This is _embarrassing_," he whined with a pout.

"Hey, at least I didn't lick my thumb to clean you up."

He paused to take a second to imagine that uncomfortable and maternal image. "Okay, good point."

She laughed again and turned his face so she could clean up his other cheek. "Well, I'm nearly done, so just bare with me for another moment."

He swallowed. "Uh, they, uh, got my neck, too," he stuttered timidly.

Ally's movements halted briefly before continuing. "Wow," she murmured incredulously, "And you thought you could just risk walking around?"

"It's kind of a fifty-fifty situation," he sighed. "I mean, I'm almost always getting recognized in LA, but in Miami, not so much. Sometimes, nothing, other times... _this_ happens." He glared at her. "If you hadn't made me call out your name, I think I would have been fine," he pointed out bitterly.

Ally snickered and met his glare with an amused glance. "Okay, so maybe I shouldn't have left you behind like that, but _I _didn't want to get caught up in all that crazy." She let go of his face and tilted his chin up. Her hand moved to firmly grip his shoulder and she started to wipe off the last of the glossy mess, a spot a few inches to the right of his Adam's apple.

His breath hitched from the coolness of the wipe and her hand snapped back.

"Sorry," she whispered.

Austin swallowed hard, but continued leaving his head tilted up toward the ceiling. "No, it's okay. Just get the rest of it off."

Ally watched the way his Adam's apple bobbed up and down, almost mesmerized, with a wide, unblinking stare.

"... Ally?" he called after she had paused for a little too long. He slowly lowered his head, about to look at her curiously, when she stopped him by placing the wet cloth to his skin again, making his head snapped back up.

She scrubbed a little bit more furiously at the spot on his throat than she had on his cheeks. "It's almost gone," she squeaked, quickening her movements.

"Ow!" he complained, trying to flinch away.

She ignored him and continued until she was finished. Seconds later, she pulled her hands back. "Okay, done," she said breathlessly.

Austin ran a hand over his neck and winced at the now sensitive and red area. "Jeez, Ally. You didn't have to rub so hard," he mumbled. He rolled his head from side to side, getting all the kinks out of his neck.

She got up and threw away the pink-stained cloth and sat back down seconds later. "Let's just get started," she said in a clear, abrupt voice.

He brightened at that and sat up straighter. "Okay!" he grinned. "So you got any ideas?"

Ally nodded and reached for her songbook, flipping open to a page. "So, um, I jotted down a few ideas and I kind of have one that I think fits the song the best..."

"Play 'em," he said excitedly, tapping a finger on the top of the piano, a few inches away from her songbook.

She froze. "Are you sure you want _me _to play them?" she asked in a timid voice.

He shrugged nonchalantly. "Why not?" He gave her a curious look and a slow smile starting to spread across his lips. "What, are you nervous about playing?" he asked with a teasing lilt.

Ally's cheeks turned a faint pink and she cleared her throat a little. "I, um, I sometimes have trouble playing when my stuffed animals are looking at me," she admitted quietly. "... Let alone a famous teen idol," she added dryly.

The teasing demeanor dropped as he took a second to study her. He playfully nudged her shoulder with his. "I'll bet you're great," he said in a soft, encouraging voice.

The faint pink darkened a few shades. "You know how to read music, don't you?" she tried desperately.

Austin rolled his eyes briefly before covering them with his hands.

She blinked at him in confusion as she waved a hand in front of his covered eyes. "Um... what are you doing?"

"No one's looking at you," he explained. "Can you play _now?_"

Her eyes widened and she couldn't help the soft smile tugging at her lips from his actions. "You really can't see anything?" she asked quietly. She waved her hand back and forth a few more times.

He shook his head and grinned at her. "Nope, nothin'."

"How many fingers?" she asked as she held up three.

"Eighty-three," Austin said dryly.

"Close. Seventy-eight," she shot back sarcastically with a roll of her eyes. She turned back to face the piano. She bit her bottom lip nervously as her fingers shakily hovered over the ivory and ebony keys.

"... Ally?"

"Just—just gimme a moment." Her fingers were still six inches above the keys, but they seemed incapable of descending further.

A few more beats of silence passed.

"I can't exactly record a song of silence, you know?" he muttered sarcastically.

She frowned and finally, her fingers landed, and the first few notes of _Double Take _sounded through the room. Soon, her voice joined in as well.

By the ending of the first verse, she was already starting to relax, focusing on the music she'd memorized from last night. When she finished, she anxiously turned her head toward Austin's, bracing herself for the worst.

To her surprise, she found him staring back at her with his usual, excited grin and bright, brown eyes.

"See?" he said, somewhat smugly. "That wasn't so bad. You were really good."

Her eyes widened and all she could really take in was the fact that sometime during her performance, he had removed his hands to watch her play. "You cheated!" she blurted.

He ignored her accusation, his mind already replaying the song and making mental notes. "I really like it, and I like the changes you made to the lyrics. And you've got a great, soft voice so the slower pace really works. But I don't think it's gonna work if _I_ sing it like that. We should make it faster and add in some sweet guitar riffs," he rattled off, trying to keep up with all the different suggestions his mind was throwing at him.

She rolled her eyes, but managed to relax as she focused on what he was saying. "Well, clearly, you'll have an entire band when you record a demo or whatever," she laughed.

He grinned at her. "Ally, I really think this is going to work," he whispered in awe.

She matched his grin mile for mile. "Okay. Let's finish this thing," she muttered determinedly, grabbing her songbook.

* * *

><p>About two hours later, Ally squinted at the papers spread across the top of the piano in deep concentration. Her eyes examined every lyric and every note written and scribbled on those pages thoroughly. Finally, after a few silent moments, her face relaxed and she leaned back to stare at them in awe. "Austin... I think we're done," she said breathlessly.<p>

Austin, from across the room, stopped plucking at the strings on the guitar in his hands—one that Ally had pulled off a display—and gently set it down. He shot up out of his chair and ran over to her, his eyes left hers to skim over those same pages she had just finished studying. "You're done tweaking everything?"

She nodded and looked up at him from her position on the piano bench. "I think so!" she laughed giddily.

He stopped and met her gaze. "Ally, you're the absolute best!" he cheered, bending down to envelop her into a bone crushing grin. "I think Jimmy's going to love it!"

Ally grinned and returned the hug. "You changed so much of it, though," she pointed out, still laughing.

He pulled back with a cringe and gave her a guilty expression. "Sorry, it's just—"

"No, don't apologize," she interrupted with a shake of her head. "It was for the better. And this version kinda fits you," she said with a bright smile. "And you're happy with it, right? That's more than what you can say about your older stuff, isn't it?"

Austin grinned at her. "I'm going to put this together in my hotel room tonight," he said, gathering up the pages. "I'll have Dez help me—"

He was interrupted by a knock at the door.

"Ally, honey?" Lester called as he opened the door and poked his head in.

The brunette turned around on the piano bench and grinned at her father. "Hey! Did you need me? It's been pretty quiet all evening."

Lester shook his head. "No, no, things are fine. Uh, actually, I came up here for—" he broke off and his eyes wandered over to the blond, clearly blanking because he was not well-versed in the popular teen stars of this generation.

The pop star chuckled a bit and walked over to Mr. Lester. "Hi, Mr. Dawson. I'm Austin Moon. It's nice to meet you," he said politely as he held out his hand.

Lester glanced down at the extended hand and then up to Austin's cheery grin and then back down at his hand again, all in slight disbelief. "Um, nice to meet you, Austin," he finally said in a slow voice as he shook his hand.

Austin's grin widened and he shook the older man's hand for the appropriate amount of time. "Anyway, Mr. Dawson, you said you came up here for me?"

Lester shook himself out of his slight daze—there were still some polite teens out there? Other than his perfect daughter?—and nodded briefly. "Uh, yeah. I think your friend is looking for you. A tall redhead?"

Austin rolled his eyes good-naturedly and turned to Ally. "Well, I guess that's my cue to leave. Thanks, Ally! For everything," he said gratefully. Ally flushed from his thousandth 'thank you' and waved him off with a dismissive. "See you soon?" he ended on a hopeful note with a lopsided grin.

She smiled softly and nodded. "Yeah, see you soon, Austin," she murmured gently with a quick wave of her hand.

"Great! Dez and I will pick you up after school!" His grin widened and he went to leave the room, but not before throwing one last look of gratitude at Ally over his shoulder.

Silence filled the room as Lester watched his daughter for a minute before clearing his throat to catch her attention. "Hey, sweetheart...?" he called quietly.

"Hey, Dad," Ally shot back cheerfully with a wide smile, still not completely down from the elated high of finishing her first song with Austin.

He smiled awkwardly at her, as if he didn't know what to say. Finally, with some difficulty, he asked, "Did you, uh... did you have fun?"

Ally continued to buzz with excitement from their successful song-writing session, not noticing her father's troubled features. She nodded enthusiastically, her eyes lighting up again. "Yeah. I helped him write and compose a song and it was amazing!" she gushed. "It was the fastest thing I've ever written, Dad! And Austin says he'll record the song, too." She bit her lip and ran over to him. "What if they play our song on the radio?" she whispered to herself incredulously. She quickly shook her head. "Oh gosh, I shouldn't think of that too soon, it's already freaking me out. One step at a time, Ally, one step at a time," she muttered to herself.

Lester's smile suddenly became uneasy and he cleared his throat. "Sweetheart... I need to talk to you about something."

Ally's expression immediate sobered and she looked at her father curiously. "Yeah, Dad, what is it?"

He swallowed uncertainly and his eyes darted around the room for a long while, unsure how to break the news to his daughter.

In her father's hesitation, Ally found her anxiety rising. "Dad? Dad, what is it?" she asked with worry etched into her tone.

He took a deep breath and looked at her guiltily. "You can't spend any more time with Austin."


	6. If it's Not Ninjas Maybe it's Scurvy

Oh, c'mon, guys. Don't be too hard on Lester. He had his reasons. And here they are now.

On top of that, sorry for taking forever. Fair bit of warning, this is a dumb chapter and I hate it. I'm also really nervous about this chapter because I feel like it's lost its effectiveness due to the insanely large time gap between updates. And I can't promise faster updates, but it's not like I'm giving up on Moonshine.

Besides, Karen and Teresa would string me up by my testicles if that ever happened, so.

(And to those of you sitting there, blinking in confusion from the above comment, I am talking about metaphorical testicles.)

Also it was Karen's birthday AGES AGO and because I'm a shitty friend, this is part one of your birthday gift. I'm still working on your one-shot and it will come out at some point, I SWEAR.

And small but heartfelt shout out to my readers and reviewers. You guys never let me forget about this fic, no matter how much I want to. I don't know whether that's sweet or annoying yet.

* * *

><p>The next day at school, Trish found her at her locker.<p>

Which, to say, wasn't particularly out of the ordinary. It was, however, a bit strange to see the always prepared student not rifling through it and picking out her books for the first couple classes of the day. Actually, it seemed as if Ally had completely forgotten the idea of grabbing her textbooks as her hands were empty.

"Ally?"

The slender brunette was leaning against her locker, an arm wrapped around her waist, her free hand held up to her mouth as she nibbled absently on a thumbnail. She never bit her nails, but she did occasionally tease her thumbnail between her teeth. The habit developed after she stopped chewing her hair; at least nail biting was a bad habit that was accepted in society, unlike the consumption of hair.

Her eyes stared listlessly across the hall, boring a hole into the opposite blue locker as the grazing of her nail continued.

"Ally?" Trish repeated, this time waving a hand in front of her friend's face.

Ally's eyelids fluttered at the new addition to her line of sight. She jumped, startled, before twisting her head to meet her friend's worried gaze. "Wha—huh? Oh. Hi, Trish," she greeted in a hollow voice.

Trish's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Wow. That bad?"

"What's bad?" Ally asked quietly.

"The song," Trish said. Ally's expression continued to appear cloudy so Trish elaborated with, "The song for Austin?"

"Oh," she murmured. "The song was fine," she said with a tight smile. Her voice sounded strained. "He loved it," she said, wincing as her voice cracked.

Her brows knitted together and she looked at her friend in concern. "Ally, are you okay? Because you don't sound it."

Ally swallowed thickly and shook her head. "Uh, no, Trish. No, I'm not," she admitted with a quivery smile as she blinked back some tears.

Minutes later, Ally found herself dragged into the nearest girls' bathroom. Two girls were in the middle of completing their make-up when Trish barked at them to leave.

One of the girls, a tall brunette turned to Trish with a disgusted look. "Um, who do you think you—"

"If you two shut up and leave, I won't have to smear your make-up with my fists. And that would be a shame, wouldn't it? Since you guys probably spent a precious amount of time applying all that to your hideous, dull faces," she threatened.

The brunette bristled and opened her mouth to say something, when her blonde friend pulled her aside. "We should leave," she squeaked in a terrified voice. "Trish will seriously rip out all our hair extensions."

The brunette's eyes widened and without another word, she fled the bathroom, her friend following in her wake.

Trish sat her quiet best friend on the heater and handed her some tissue paper to dab at her eyes. "Is this about Austin? Did that egotistical pop star do some—"

"No!" Ally quickly said, shaking her head furiously. "This isn't about Austin." She sniffled and she looked up at her best friend. "Austin's been fine. He's been great," she said with a wistful smile.

Trish relaxed and sighed, taking a seat next to her friend, secretly glad that she could continue being a fan of the blond singing sensation. "Well, do you... do you want to talk about it?" she asked gently.

Ally turned to look at her best friend. She gulped and sniffled again. "Promise not to tell?" she whispered.

The curly-haired girl nodded. "I wouldn't spread gossip about something that made you cry."

Ally chuckled humorlessly at her friend's poor joke. "Thanks, Trish," she said.

"Sorry."

There was a beat of silence as the Latina waited for Ally to take the time she needed to tell her. The teary girl took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. Both girls braced themselves for the next words that filled the air.

"My dad told me that our business is failing," she finally whispered in a hollow voice.

Trish's eyes widened and she sat there, momentarily stunned by her friend's news. "Really?" was the only thing she could manage.

The red-eyed girl nodded solemnly. "Yeah. He told me last night. Apparently, we haven't been doing well for a while, but he was trying to hide it from me for the past month or so." She gave an empty, bitter laugh. "I was wondering why he stopped letting me help with the expense reports and the bills. I guess he didn't want me seeing our numbers."

"Ally, I'm so sorry," Trish offered weakly as she enveloped her friend in a hug.

Ally rested her head on her friend's shoulder and dabbed at her eyes repeatedly. "I'm worried about him," she whispered.

Trish snorted and rubbed her friend's upper arm as soothingly as she could. "What about _you?_"

Ally shrugged. "I'm a kid, I can get a job anywhere else in the mall. It'll be harder for my dad to bounce back from a failed business that he opened in his name," she murmured. Her brow furrowed and she looked stressed all over again. "Plus, on top of the failed business, there are bills to pay. And even though I was going to refuse, I know he wanted to try to help with my college funds." She took a deep breath and tucked a strand of limp hair behind her ear. "I just—I don't want him to feel like a failure."

Trish nodded understandingly and gave Ally a moment before her next question. "Did you see any of this coming?"

"No," she replied honestly. "I mean, I know things have been slow lately, but I didn't realize just how bad it was. And I work mostly weekends and those always turn out all right. But I guess when my dad works during the day, he's making absolutely no sales."

They lapsed into a silence as Trish realized she still didn't know what to say and left Ally to shift through her thoughts.

"He told me last night that I needed to pull more hours so he can see if there's anything he can do for Sonic Boom," she finally said.

"I'll come visit you. Like, all the time," Trish promised.

Ally giggled a little at that. "Thanks, Trish. I'll appreciate the company." And then she frowned. "I'll have to stop hanging out with Austin," she said in a small voice. Admitting that out loud made her stomach clench painfully. "Because I'll need to focus on figuring out a way to save Sonic Boom," she added.

"How are you going to tell him?" Trish asked quietly.

Ally bit her lip and her shoulders sagged with heavy defeat. "I don't know," she murmured honestly.

And she didn't, because how was she supposed to let down the one person that believed in her so openly, so whole-heartedly without ever pausing to get to know her first?

* * *

><p>The rest of the day continued to weigh heavily on her, as did her father's words about their business—because Sonic Boom was every bit hers as it was Lester's—from last night. The embarrassment and shame and guilt in her father's entire countenance was an image she wasn't likely to forget anytime soon, either.<p>

And if she wasn't thinking about last night, then she was thinking about Austin, about how she would see him as soon as school let out and how she would inevitably disappoint him by putting an end to their tentative friendship, their possible partnership, everything.

Well, it might not have been the song she'd written for him, but she always had a feeling that she'd let him down at some point.

That thought alone nearly drowned everything else out.

By the time the final bell rang, Ally found herself on auto-pilot, her feet carrying her through the back parking lot while she waited for Austin and Dez. Her chest squeezed painfully when she saw the two of them waving at her as Dez slowed to a stop beside her. She didn't bother waving back, but plastered as much of a smile as she could on her lips and nodded briefly.

Dez rolled down the window and leaned out toward her. "Hey, you come here often?" he asked flirtatiously.

"Dude!" Austin hissed, jabbing him in the side.

The redhead winced but then glared at him. "How come it always works when you say it?" he grumbled as he rubbed his sore ribcage. "I was just practicing."

Ally couldn't help the small scoff of laughter that bubbled out of her from their insane antics. "Dez, I think it only works because Austin's a pop star," she pointed out.

"Man, the powers of the fame and fortune."

Austin rolled his eyes and jerked a thumb toward the backseat. "Ally, c'mon! We've gotta go." He didn't sound impatient though, just excited, which made Ally even more nervous about what she had to tell him.

She cleared her throat and shifted her weight from foot to foot. The movement caught the boys' attention and they focused on her worriedly. "About that..." she trailed off and looked down at her red flats.

"About what...?" Austin asked patiently, gesturing for her to continue on.

She ignored her stomach doing a queasy flop as she squared her shoulders."Hey, Dez... can you park the car and can I have a moment alone with Austin?" Ally asked tentatively. Her eyes darted nervously between the two and then she swallowed and tacked on a quiet, little, "Please?"

Austin's eyebrows shot up and he and Dez shared a brief glance of curious surprise before the redhead finally nodded and cleared his throat. "Uh, sure. Hang on..." he muttered as he pulled into a parking spot on the school lot before getting out.

Ally gave him a small smile of thanks as he left and waited until the driver's door shut closed. She turned to Austin—and was slightly unnerved that she already had his full, undivided attention—and squared her shoulders, not entirely prepared with what she'd have to tell him. "Austin, look, these past few days have been really, really... _interesting_, but I can't—I can't really—" she broke off and wrung her hands together as she struggled to say the next part.

Austin frowned and leaned around his seat, trying to get as close as he could to Ally. "Can't what?" he asked slowly.

"I can't hang out today." The words were heavy on her tongue and even though they've tumbled out into the open, she didn't feel any lighter.

He frowned, feeling disappointed. "But we made plans today," he said simply. He scratched at his head. "So... does that mean we'll have to try for tomorrow?" he asked hopefully.

She shook her head and felt a lump coming up in her throat. She didn't want to disappoint him—didn't have the heart—not now, not when he'd been nothing but so supportive and encouraging to her. Her shoulders slumped and she leaned back into the seat, suddenly looking pale and drained. "I know—I know I said I'd help you with your album, but... something came up and now, now, I can't," she whispered quietly. "I'm so, _so _sorry, Austin."

Austin sat there, stunned, as he watched her slowly start to sit back up and open her tired, baggy eyes. "What do you mean?" he asked automatically, as his mind buzzed loudly in a futile attempt to further process her words.

She worked her jaw up and down a few times, wordless breaths and inaudible syllables slipping out.

Austin frowned deeper and his brow furrowed. "Ally, what do you mean?" he repeated in a slightly firmer voice.

Ally tried to swallow the lump in her throat, and yet it was still there. She was beginning to think it was going to become a permanent fixture. "I just—I just can't, okay? Austin, I'm so sorry. But I have school and I have work and I'm—"

"Then I'll work around your schedule!" he suggested, trying to keep the hurt and anger out of his voice. "We'll work at Sonic Boom and write during your breaks and you can still help—"

"It's not that simple!" she snapped, her voice beginning to strain.

He recoiled but quickly leaned forward again, trying desperately to understand her sudden change of heart. "Why are you backing out? You promised! You promised you'd help write—"

She glared at him, quickly becoming upset as well. "One song! I promised you _one_ song!" She winced at how harsh and how loud her words were but she continued with a pointed glare. "And I gave you that song. We finished it yesterday and now I'm done," she said lowly, trying to control her emotions and to keep her voice from quivering. "I'm done and I've kept my promise," she reiterated quietly as her gaze dropped down to her knees.

Austin looked at her with wide eyes, no longer able to keep the hurt from appearing on his face. "I thought you had fun! I thought you wanted to write more songs with me and I thought—I thought—" he broke off to look around the car for a second before looking back at her. "I thought we were friends..." he finally managed, looking at her in confusion.

"We are," she tried to insist, but they didn't convince the other teen.

"Ally, just tell me what's wrong. Maybe I can—"

"Let it go," she snapped. "You can't help, so don't even try."

He shrank back, the words hitting him like a slap to the face. "Ally..."

"Just—just let it go, Austin." The unsaid pleading in her words made the blond draw back completely as he stared at her helplessly.

They sat in silence for a few minutes, Ally with her eyes closed and her hands clutched at her temples, Austin alternating between staring at her and around the car, still feeling entirely helpless. He wanted to reach out and comfort her or touch her or hug her or _something_ but he had the sneaking suspicion that she'd just slap him away. He clenched and unclenched his hands to help strive off the feeling.

He didn't think he could deal with any more rejection if it came from Ally Dawson.

So he sat and watched as she took a deep, shuddering breath and opened her eyes. "I'm sorry," she said again, quiet and tired and very nearly-broken. She didn't meet his eyes when they opened. She didn't have the heart and he had stopped looking at her, anyway. She reached for the door handle and left without another word.

Austin sat impeccably still, eyes on his knees during her entire good-bye.

* * *

><p>The ride to the hotel room was quiet, Dez having taken the hint when Ally walked past him with her head hung low. Austin had been grateful for the silence, so that he could let his anger and hurt and confusion stew.<p>

Austin sighed and raked a hand through his hair as he stared up at the ceiling of his room despairingly. "I just... I don't get it, Dez. I thought we were friends," he muttered.

Dez didn't look up from fiddling with his camera as he made a loud, scoffing noise. "We are, dude." And then he felt a pillow hit the back of his head. He turned around to see Austin glaring at him half-heartedly from his elbow-propped position on the bed. "Ohhh... riiight," the redhead dragged out, as his friend's words dawned on him, "Not _us_-we, but _you-and-Ally_-we." He clicked his tongue and nodded like he knew what was going on. "I gotcha."

The blond rolled his eyes. "Yeah, Ally-and-me-we." He frowned distastefully as he replayed the words in his head.

"... You want us to stop adding 'we' to the end of everything?"

"That'd be a good start, yeah." Austin flopped back onto the bed and stared back up at his ceiling. He didn't actually think the speckled texture high up above would provide any sort of answer or epiphany, but he really didn't feel like focusing on anything else. Another hearty sigh escaped his lips and he crossed his arms behind his head in irritation. "Why would Ally just suddenly back out like that?" he wondered out loud.

"Maybe ninjas are threatening her for befriending a hot, young celeb."

The blond snorted derisively. "That's ridiculous!" he said. "I mean, it's not like I'm the next Ryan Gosling or anything."

"Hm... fair point, my friend." Dez shrugged. "Well, if it's not ninjas, maybe it's just scurvy." He appeared thoughtful and then waved it off. "No, you're right," he sighed. "That's ridiculous, her hair's too healthy for it to be scurvy."

Austin groaned and grabbed another pillow to cover his face with. "You're not helping, Dez!" he bellowed frustratingly into the cushy object. Seconds later, the gloomy pop star felt the pillow getting lifted of his face. He tilted his head to the side to look up into the concerned eyes of his redheaded friend.

"Wow, you're taking this pretty hard, buddy," Dez said. "But smothering yourself with a pillow isn't going to get you anywhere."

"Ha ha," he muttered sarcastically as he moved to sit up.

Dez joined him on the end of the bed and placed the pillow in his lap, absently fluffing and re-fluffing it as he studied the blond. "So... what are you going to do now?"

Austin shrugged already drooping shoulders. "I don't know. I still have the demo I recorded after Ally and I finished Double Take. But I don't feel right showing it to him without her." He looked at Dez and sighed. "Besides, I don't want him knowing that I managed to screw up our partnership within 24 hours."

"You'll fix it," Dez said confidently. "You always do."

His eyes softened and he shot his friend a tired smile, grateful for the vote of confidence. "Thanks, dude." He sighed and ran a hand through his hair. "I need to figure out why Ally was so weird today... she seemed fine yesterday when I left and then all of a sudden, she's backing out and telling me she can't see me anymore." He frowned and shook his head, an image of her as she bid him goodbye flashing in his mind. He closed his eyes, but the image hung there, with Ally looking at him brokenly and he swallowed, feeling queasy.

"Something's wrong," Austin whispered quietly, brow furrowing as he tried to piece together what it might be. "There's something going on but she won't tell me the truth."

Dez gave him an odd look. "You think so?"

Austin nodded emphatically. "Yeah, and we're going to figure it out."

Whatever was up with Ally, he was going to fix it, whether she wanted him to or not.


	7. Got Room for a Third Party Member?

Oh my God, please just bear with me. I promise, _I promise_, I'm like _this close_ to Auslly friendship and/or fluff in this fic. Not to give too much away, but after this Sonic Boom arc wraps up, I will be _smacking you in the face with the goddamn Auslly_. Seriously, I have a lot of fun planned for these two. So please be patient.

(Not that a lot of you are whining or complaining or anything, I just wanted to let you guys know.)

And big thank you to Jennifer for reading and looking over this chapter! Love you.

* * *

><p>"Remember all those jokes about you being creepy?"<p>

"This is different."

"Right," Dez started, slowly drawing out the vowel. "Because following your girl's best friend around to get information on said girl isn't creepy."

Austin turned to the redhead in the driver's seat with an irritated scowl. "Ally isn't my girl," he said, rolling his eyes. "We're just friends."

Dez's eyes darted from the road to meet his friend's for a brief second. "Uh-huh." He didn't sound particularly convinced.

"We are!" the pop star insisted. He frowned thoughtfully as he flashbacked to their previous encounter. "I think."

Dez threw a sympathetic glance his way. "Hey, things will be okay." A corner of Austin's lips quirked upward and he began to look grateful as he began to shoot Dez a grateful look. "And if they won't be, there are other girls out there," he said, nodding wisely.

Austin's face dropped again. "Just keep your eyes on the road," he mumbled.

Dez turned back to the road just as the car in front of them took a sharp right turn into a nearby neighborhood. The boys shared a look. Dez raised an eyebrow but made the same turn just as sharply. They tilted in their seats before righting themselves after the turn. "Do you think she knows?"

Austin shook his head. "No, she can't possibly…"

The car they were tailing signaled and then pulled over to the side of the street.

"How about now?" Dez asked with a dry expression as the driver's seat opened up.

Austin turned to his friend, wincing visibly in his seat. "Do you think she'll tell Ally?" he asked, meekly, as Dez parked and they both unbuckled their seatbelts. But as they watched Trish getting out of her car and angrily march toward them, they were too afraid to get out, instead slouching pathetically in their respective seats.

She came up to Austin's side and rapped on his window with the back of her hand. "What the hell do you think you're doing?" she yelled, hands on her hips as she glared into the car, looking pissed.

Austin flinched in terror and quickly moved to roll down the window, but she shook her head and yelled at him to get out of the car, walking back around to the hood. He gulped but did as he was told. Once he was outside, he shut the passenger door and scrambled around the side of the car to meet her, wide-eyed. He held up his hands in the universal sign of _please, for the love of God, don't hurt me I'm too young and pretty to die _and blurted out, "It's not what you think."

Trish narrowed her eyes at Austin and he tried to remind himself that she was half his size, although this seemed to accomplish very little since he was still absolutely terrified. "You know," she said, her voice a low growl, "following me around isn't going to earn you any fucking brownie points with Ally. So what are you aiming at?"

Austin flushed, embarrassed. "I wasn't tryin—"

"Is this or is this not about Ally?" she cut in impatiently with a raised eyebrow.

Austin turned around to Dez—who was still in the car because he also found Trish terrifying—and looked at him expectantly. Dez was of no help and slowly reclined the driver's seat, mouthing a half-hearted _sorry, buddy_ as he disappeared from view.

"Traitor," Austin mumbled as he shot the car a sullen look. He turned back to the angry girl and looked incredibly guilty. "Okay, so maybe this _is_ about Ally," he admitted with a wince.

"Big surprise there." She threw her hands up in frustration. "Great, this is just _great_. I'm too mad on Ally's behalf to even be excited that a fucking _teen celebrity _is currently stalking me," she grumbled to herself. Her eyes narrowed dangerously and Austin gulped in fear. "You better explain yourself, Austin Moon, and you better explain yourself _real good_."

"She won't talk to me," Austin said, so despondently that Trish actually softened a little. "I just want to know how she is."

Now Trish looked confused. "What?" she asked, her voice sharp with surprise.

He looked at her, a little desperately. "I'm worried about her. She was really upset the last time I saw her and I think she's hiding something but I don't know why."

"Oh no," she said in a low mutter, shaking her head. "If you think I'm going to spill _anything _to you, you're sadly mistaken, pal."

He frowned. "I just want to kn—"

"Dude, if Ally wasn't going to tell you what she's going through right now, what makes you think I would?" she asked. She was no longer yelling at him, but there was enough force behind her words that made Austin realize she wasn't going to budge.

He deflated considerably. "Can you… can you at least tell me if she's okay?" He frowned. "And, I mean, _really_, _seriously_ okay, not some quick lie."

Trish stared at him for a long moment, regarding him and his sincerity carefully. After a while, all of her anger melted away, replaced by worry. "She isn't," she said in a quiet voice, averting her gaze sadly. "She'll be mad if I told you that but I think you deserve _some_ honesty, I guess," she muttered.

Austin's heart clenched tightly. "She's not?" he whispered. "Is there anything I can do?"

Trish shook her head. "I don't think so." She sighed and looked back up at Austin. "Look, Ally's in a rough place right now but trust me, she'll get through this, okay? She's not broken and she doesn't need to be fixed, so don't freak out. Just give her some time. She'll be fine."

He frowned and shifted uncomfortably. "Are you sure there's—"

"Austin, don't push it," she said in a warning tone. His jaw snapped shut with an audible click. She nodded approvingly. "Just give her some time to work through her problems, okay?"

He looked guilty but then nodded understandingly with a sigh. "Can you wait a moment?" he asked as an idea struck him.

Her eyes narrowed. "I guess… what are you up to?"

"Just hang on!" he said, running back to Dez's car and opening the passenger's seat. He began looking through the glove compartment as Dez turned to him.

"Dude. She still out there?"

"Uh-huh," Austin said under his breath, clearly distracted.

Dez frowned, noticing his frantic searching. "Hey, what are you—?"

"Aha!" Austin said, triumphant, as he found the items he'd been looking for. Quickly, he scribbled something on a small piece of paper before throwing the pen haphazardly at Dez, who flinched but caught it regardless. The blond didn't think to answer him as he slammed the door shut and ran back to the curly-haired girl.

"Here." Austin offered Trish the little scrap of paper.

She eyed it wearily, not bothering to take it. "What it is?"

"My number," he said, waving it a bit. "Ally doesn't have it, so take it."

Trish raised an eyebrow. "Why should_ I_ take it?" Her eyebrow arched higher. "And how do you know I won't sell it to every teenage girl within a five-mile radius for some serious cash?"

He shrugged. "I don't," he admitted, with a flinch. "But I'm hoping you're a better person than that."

She stiffened. "You clearly don't know me."

"No," he agreed. "But I do know Ally's your best friend." He gave her a meaningful look. "And that she must have rubbed off on you at least a little."

She rolled her eyes and shoved his number away. "I'm not interested in—"

"Use it to call me in case something happens," he interrupted. "Or if Ally changes her mind or if she needs help or _anything_." He looked at her earnestly. "Please. Take it… just in case."

Trish's gaze wavered back and forth between his eyes and the piece of paper in his hand. After another long moment, she sighed irritably and snatched it from him, shoving it into her pocket without even bothering to look at it. He frowned because that wasn't exactly promising but she had taken it and that was all that mattered.

"Thank you," he said, sounding relieved.

She grunted and turned to walk to her car. "Don't be expecting a call any time soon," she warned over her shoulder.

He opened his mouth to tell her he wasn't going to but she was already in her car and pulling into the nearest driveway to turn around. Austin tried to wave at her but she steadfastly ignored him as she passed him. He sighed and reluctantly got back in the car with Dez.

The redhead turned, bringing his seat back up, just as Austin buckled in his seatbelt. "So how did it go?"

Austin sighed. "Better than I expected, but not nearly as good as I had hoped." His brow furrowed in a thoughtful manner. "But she didn't try to hurt me so that's a plus."

Dez gave him a sympathetic look. "Look, you'll still be in Miami for a while. Maybe when Ally sorts everything out, you can see her again."

He nodded as Dez started up the car. His fingers drummed an impatient, irregular rhythm along his knee. "Yeah," he said, sounding distracted, "I'm just hoping it's sooner rather than later."

* * *

><p>"Hey, Ally," Trish greeted as she strolled in through Sonic Boom's open doors. She looked around and noticed that the store was still pretty empty. With a wince, she came up to her best friend and asked, "So… any business at all?"<p>

Ally shook her head dejectedly. "No." She perked up a little as she remembered. "Oh! I sold a harmonica after school" — she went back to looking sad — "but nothing since."

Trish sucked in a breath, pulling a face. "Damn, that really fucking sucks."

"I know." She shrugged, still dejected. "But we'll figure something out," she said, but she didn't even sound entirely convinced herself. And then she plastered on an overly eager smile and asked, "How about you? What have you been up to today? Did you get a new job?"

Trish frowned, not liking Ally's topic change or her dishonest smile, but if her friend didn't want to talk about her family's current struggles, Trish wasn't going to pry. For Ally's sake, Trish matched her friend's smile and shrugged. "Oh, you know, showed up to work, found out I was already fired, was late to my other job that I had lined up; the usual."

Ally shook her head, exasperated. "Typical you," she said.

Trish smiled at her serenely. "Typical me," she said with a shrug. And then she struck up a conversation with her best friend for the remainder of the evening. She purposefully left out any mention of Austin Moon. Her friend already had enough on her mind; the last thing she needed was the unwanted attention of a teen pop star piled on top of everything else. Trish spent the rest of her evening keeping her friend company in the mostly empty store and doing her best to take her mind off her troubles, even if it was only for a few blissfully short hours.

* * *

><p>Austin tore off the headphones half way through the song and rubbed at his eyes, frustrated, but ultimately unsurprised, that another demo was being added to the rejection pile. "Jimmy, this isn't—"<p>

"I know," his manager interjected quietly. "I don't like it, either." He looked at Austin in concern. "And you can't do a third album that's basically a rehash of the first two; you'll never be taken seriously at that point," he pointed out.

Austin groaned and dropped his head onto the table they were sitting at in the recording studio, narrowly missing having an imprint of the switchboard on his forehead. "How the hell am I supposed to shed my image as a 'fluff pop teen idol' if that's literally all anyone thinks I can handle?" he growled as his head popped up so he could rest his chin on the table. "And whenever I try to talk to the songwriters, they just laugh and think I'm kidding."

Jimmy crossed his arms and sat back in his seat, raising an eyebrow. "Whatever happened to your friend? That brunette girl?" He frowned thoughtfully, trying to remember a name. "Uh, Ally, was it?"

Austin tensed at the mention of her name. "We're… not talking anymore," he mumbled, his eyes shifting away.

Jimmy's eyebrows jumped in surprise. "Oh, really? And why is that?" He regarded Austin carefully as the teen shrugged sadly. "Seemed like you two were pretty chummy last I saw."

Austin rolled his eyes. "Yeah, well, a lot can happen in a few days."

His manger hummed in response. "So nothing came from that song she wrote? Double Take?"

The teen thought back to the demo he had recorded and hastily thrown together that night after his songwriting session with Ally. He'd been carrying it around in his pocket during every trip to the recording studio, not entirely sure whether he wanted to show it to Jimmy. On the one hand, he wouldn't like it and while it would disappoint Austin, he almost felt like he'd be more upset if Jimmy _did_ like it and Austin couldn't even celebrate that moment of happiness with Ally.

"Austin?"

Snapping out of his daze, he turned to his manager and sighed, choosing to at least be honest. "It… yeah, I recorded a demo after we finished composing the song," he confessed.

Jimmy brightened. "Well, let's hear it!"

He hesitated, but when Jimmy looked at him, a mix of curiosity and expectancy, he finally pulled out a USB from his pocket and handed it over. Jimmy grabbed it and went to set it up.

_Well, here goes nothing_.

* * *

><p>A few days passed, and Ally still felt little to no assurance about the state of Sonic Boom. She did her best to keep up with school and focus on the store, but between the long lulls in customers, she had even more time to despair over Sonic Boom's lack of business. The amount of times Trish had walked into the store far exceeded the amount of foot traffic from everyone else combined, which was incredibly depressing.<p>

Ally glanced at the clock and her shoulders slumped in defeat. Two hours had trickled by without a single soul walking in through the doors. And she still had to stay open for _another_ two hours. She looked around, trying to find something to do—having finished her homework ages ago—and realized that she'd already cleaned the entire store twice and rearranged half the displays more times than she could count. Still, she continued to look around, desperate to find something to occupy the rest of her time. Her eyes wavered on the grand piano in the store, but she hadn't been in the mood to write or tinker with anything since… well, since her last writing session with Austin. There were two reasons why she'd been avoiding it: one, she was too upset about Sonic Boom to really want to make any music, and two, it reminded her of Austin, and she really didn't want to think about him.

She lasted another seventeen minutes before she finally gave in and sat down on the bench, her trusty songbook in hand.

The second she let herself focus on the keys in front of her and took a deep breath to clear her mind, it was like opening the floodgates. She let the music pour out of her.

* * *

><p>"Dude, you're <em>still<em> moping?"

"No," Austin said, every bit like a petulant child.

Dez walked by and lifted the pillow off Austin's face. "What have I said about the pillow?"

Austin glared up at Dez and his patronizing stare. "I'm not trying to smother myself, okay?"

The redhead rolled his eyes and sat down on Austin's bed. "C'mon, it's been days since we followed Trish. She's not going to call."

Austin struggled for a moment, torn between wanting to remain optimistic and wanting to look at the situation realistically. And realistically, Trish totally wasn't going to call. He groaned, finally deciding to give up. "Yeah, yeah. Okay, fine. You're probably right; she isn't going to call."

Dez gave Austin a sympathetic look before giving him a firm nod, happy with his choice to stop holding onto the feeble hope of getting a phone call. "So what's your next move?"

Austin shrugged. "I don't know," he admitted. "I can stay here for a little longer, but it's not like Jimmy's really getting any good offers for songs. Or I can fly back to L.A., but…" he trailed off, unsure where he was going with that thought.

Dez looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "You don't want to go back to L.A. because of Ally?" He sounded incredulous.

He shook his head. "No, she isn't the rea—" He deflated a little under Dez's knowing stare and rolled his eyes. "Okay, fine, maybe a tiny bit because of Ally." He held up his forefinger and his thumb. "Like, this much." Dez opened his mouth to say something but Austin quickly cut him off. "It's only because I want to thank her when I release Double Take, okay?" he argued.

Jimmy, to his immense relief, had ended up loving the song and wanted to release it as a new single as soon as possible. It had felt strange to be the only one able to appreciate Jimmy's approval, knowing full well that Ally deserved to have been there as well. At one point, he'd hoped that Ally would be there, watching him record their song but clearly, he had to give that up the other day when he'd finally recorded it.

"She wrote it, and I don't want to go back home before I got the chance to properly thank her or whatever," Austin muttered.

Dez nodded, reluctantly realizing that Austin had a point. "Okay, fine. I guess it would be kind of a dick move if she hears you singing her song on the radio, but you never told her or thanked her, _and_ you happen to be about 3,750 kilometers away." He threw his hands up in an exaggerated surrendering gesture. "I guess you've got a point there."

Austin blinked, his brow furrowing. "Kilometers?"

Dez gave him a funny look. "Uh, duh, Austin, _kilometers_. Who still uses miles?" He snorted, as if embarrassed that Austin was still so behind on the times.

Austin stared at his best friend blankly. "We do. _We _use miles. Americans still use miles." Dez started to squint his eyes in confusion, so Austin quickly waved a dismissive hand. "Okay, forget about that, that's not important right now."

"Austin, dude, what if you come out with the song and Ally's still all weird or whatever?" He gave him a considering look. "What if she won't even let you thank her?"

"Then I go back home," Austin answered with a hard sigh. "Jimmy and I can listen to demos back in L.A. or here in Miami, so it's not like it really matters where I am." He shrugged a little and continued, "I mean, I missed Miami and I love being here, but I'm going to have to go back home no matter what, and the sooner the better if it means working on my new album."

Dez's eyes softened and he nodded. "Well, I'm gonna miss you, dude."

Austin shot him a small smile. "I'm gonna miss you, too, Dez," he said, sad that he'd have to say goodbye to his best friend. The distance never really changed anything, but it wasn't exactly easy on their friendship, and that was before factoring in Austin's busy career and celebrity status. "Hey, I'll fly you in for the premiere of the new _Zalien_ movie?" he suggested, hoping to lighten the air a little.

Dez held up a fist to his lips and made a chocking noise. "Oh my God," he breathed, getting teary-eyed. "If you do that for me, I promise you my first born." And then he whispered, "As in _child_," paired with an overly sketchy look.

Austin shook his head, not wanting any part of that. "That's all yours, buddy."

* * *

><p>Like clockwork this past week, Trish showed up at Sonic Boom as soon as she could after school let out. But to her surprise, Ally wasn't behind the counter nor was she busy cleaning or arranging a display. Instead, Trish found her sitting at the piano bench, alternating between short bursts of playing the piano and scribbling in her prized songbook.<p>

"Ally?"

The brunette didn't look up from writing furiously in her songbook, so Trish tried again.

"_Ally_."

With a mild frown, the songwriter made quick back-and-forth strokes, as if scratching something out. She mumbled to herself and then paused, eyes flitting across the pages as she reread her work.

Now Trish was just irritated as she stomped over to her best friend sitting at the grand piano. "ALLY."

With a shout of surprise, Ally jumped and threw her book and pencil in the air before spinning around with a hand clutched to her chest. "Friends shouldn't give friends heart attacks!" she cried.

Trish rolled her eyes. "Good one, you should knit that on a sweater."

Ally glared at her best friend and exhaled impatiently. "Was it necessary to scare me like that?" she asked.

"Ally, I called your name, like, three times."

"Oh." Ally looked properly chastised. "I'm sorry," she said sincerely. She looked at the piano guiltily before looking back to Trish. "I guess I was… a little distracted."

"Ya think?" Trish raised an eyebrow. But then she looked at her best friend curiously. "Wait, you're writing music again? I thought you said you were taking a break? To focus on the store?"

"I was," Ally said with a short nod. "But yesterday it was so slow and I'd finished all my homework… and I don't know, it seemed like a good way to take my mind off things, I guess. I mean, what else am I going to do?" she whispered sadly, gesturing around the empty store. "I can only clean the store so many times," she added irritably.

Trish's eyes softened and she pointed at the piano bench. Ally nodded and slid over to make room for her best friend to sit down. "So come up with anything good?"

Ally frowned, looking embarrassed. "You know I don't like play—"

Trish rolled her eyes. "You don't have to actually show me anything, jeez."

Ally flushed and shrugged as nonchalantly as possible, which immediately raised Trish's suspicions. "Just… you know… dumb little ditties," she coughed. "Mostly I'm just tinkering with the piano. Nothing… nothing _worthwhile _or anything."

"Ally." Trish said her name slowly, warning her that she could come clean of her own volition or else Trish would start prying.

With a resigned sigh, Ally rubbed her forehead. "Besides, they're never gonna see the light of day, anyway," she sighed. "I mean, it's not like anyone's gonna sing them or whatever." She flipped through the pages sadly before closing the book.

Trish regarded Ally carefully. After a moment of hesitating, she ventured on to ask, "Did you write anything for Austin?"

Ally froze, suddenly unable to look her friend in the eye. "No," she mumbled.

Trish stared at her, stunned. "Oh my God, you did, didn't you?"

"It doesn't matter."

Trish frowned. "Yeah, it does," she argued. "Because you _miss _him and you want to write songs with him, don't you?"

Ally shook her head, stubbornness settling into her features. "I said, _it doesn't matter _since I can't afford that right now."

Trish's eyebrows furrowed. "What do you mean you can't—"

"My dad might lose his business, Trish! I can't be a selfish teenager right now, okay? I can't just go and goof off with some pop star or—or write songs and chase after my fifteen minutes of fame!" she cried, feeling something within her snap. The other girl blinked with wide eyes and Ally took a moment to let those words sink in for her friend before continuing. "I have to be here, with Sonic Boon and with my dad and I have to—" Breaking off, she took a deep, frustrated breath. "Look, writing music helped me blow off some steam and to de-stress a little, but at the end of the day, my family's business is _failing _and I need to be here to help." She closed her eyes and rubbed her hands over her face for a second. "Even if in the end, it didn't mean anything…" she added in a broken whisper.

Trish looked at her with an unreadable expression, feeling a flurry of emotions all at once. Stupidity for suggesting such a thing when Ally was going through such a hard time, guilt for forgetting how dedicated a daughter and worker she was; hurt that her best friend was going through something like this at all. "Ally," she began, "I'm sorry, I didn't realize—"

"It's okay," Ally cut in, her voice tired but gentle. "It's… I don't even know how to deal and I'm not expecting you to, either." She smiled at her friend sadly. "And I'm sorry… for rant—"

"Don't you _dare_ apologize," Trish said, pointing a stern finger at the confused brunette. "You were angry and upset with me and you had every right to tell me all that. And you needed to get that off your chest anyway, right?" She raised her eyebrow in a knowing way.

Ally managed a weak chuckle, turning a bit pink. "I guess… I do feel a bit better," she admitted a little shyly. "But I still sort of feel—"

"Ally, if you try to finish that thought _one more_—"

"Okay, okay!" Ally said with a small laugh. "I'm sorry for trying to apologize." Trish sighed in irritation and Ally stuck her tongue between her teeth as she smiled innocently.

"You're a lost cause, aren't you?"

* * *

><p>After a few hours, Trish said she had to go home for dinner and while that had been true, she also wanted to do something else before it got too late in the evening or she changed her mind about it. Again.<p>

"Goddammit," Trish muttered, shifting through the pockets of the pair of jeans lying in the middle of her room. That had already been the third pair she'd searched.

Maybe it had been the pocket of her jacket blazer…?

With a furrowing of her brow, she started to dig through more of her dirty laundry, searching through all the pockets in every article of clothing.

She didn't find what she'd been looking for, but she'd collected 53 cents, a dried-up piece of gum, a missing button, and an unsettling amount of lint.

"Gross," she muttered, shuddering as she wiped her hand on her leg.

And then she saw one final pair of jeans hidden away in the corner of her closet, thrown there because most likely, she'd aimed for her hamper and missed. She scrambled over and rifled through the pockets, cursing and pleading under her breath. She cursed cheerfully and grinned down at the rumpled piece of paper with a number scribbled down.

Grabbing her phone and taking a deep breath, she started punching in the numbers.

* * *

><p>"Favorite Christmas movie?"<p>

Austin snorted. "Easy. _Die Hard_."

Dez raised an impressed eyebrow, pleased with his friend's answer. "Good choice," he said as he began to evaluate the possible reasons. "Bruce Willis playing a hardcore New York cop, Alan Rickman playing an awesome and classy bad guy, tons of action, good amount of explosions, and that final scene with the gun and the tape?" Dez shook his head in reverence. "Genius. Pure genius."

"Don't forget the long-distance marriage nearing divorce that he manages to fix," Austin grinned. "Most eventful Christmas Eve ever, man."

"Now pick a Christmas movie with actual Christmas themes," Dez ordered.

Austin rolled his eyes but immediately knew the answer to that one as well. "_Home Alone_."

"You really can't beat John Hughes," Dez said with a huge amount of respect. "Okay, Indiana Jones or Han Solo."

Austin shot him a horrified look. "Dude, how am I supposed to—" He was cut off mid-sentence thanks to his phone going off. Austin rolled his eyes and fished his phone out of his pocket. He went to answer it but it wasn't a number he recognized. "That's weird," he muttered.

"What is?" Dez asked.

"This number… it's not in my contacts… but that's the Miami area code."

"You don't give your number out, either…" Dez muttered, sounding suspicious.

"I know." He looked at his friend. "So who do you thi—" Austin's eyes widened as something dawned on him and while a small part of him reminded him to be realistic, he couldn't help the sense of giddy optimism he felt. He smacked Dez in the chest excitedly, who grunted in displeasure. "Dude! Do you think it's Trish? Or Ally?"

Dez raised an eyebrow. "That or Trish could have sold your number to one of your fans."

Austin grimaced, feeling himself quickly starting to deflate. "Oh, yeah. I guess it could be that, too."

Dez rolled his eyes. "Well? Answer it!" he said, looking at him eagerly as he made a gesture for him to hurry up.

Austin took a deep breath and with no amount of small apprehension, he finally answered the phone call. "Uh, hello?" he said, bracing himself for what may be on the other end of the phone.

"It's Trish."

His eyes widened. He felt a surge of relief that it wasn't a random fan, but then it turned to worry since Trish probably wouldn't be calling if it was good news. "Is it Ally? Is she—"

"Calm your testicles, alright? She's fine."

Austin frowned but snapped his jaw shut.

"Look, I'm only going to say this once so shut up and listen."

"Listening," he said with a grunt, waiting for her to continue.

Over the phone, he heard her inhale sharply before speaking. "Ally's fine, but… she misses you. She's written a bunch of songs and I know she won't admit it, but they're all for you."

"Really?" His voice was barely above a whisper.

"All I'm saying is, maybe you should go see her. Even if it's only for a few minutes at Sonic Boom." She paused for a second and then quickly said, "I have better things to do with my time, so bye," before he heard the beeping that signaled the end of her call. He was still reeling from the shock of the unexpected—and abrupt—phone call, so it took him a second to snap out of it.

"So?" Dez asked, looking at him expectantly. "What did she say?"

Austin smirked. "Ally misses me," he said, sounding rather smug. "And she's written a whole bunch of songs for me!"

Dez rolled his eyes. "Anything else?" he asked.

Austin appeared thoughtful for a second. "Hey, what time is it?"

Checking at the clock on the faraway wall, Dez answered, "About seven." He looked at Austin suspiciously. "Why?"

His smirk softened into a genuine smile as he felt a sense of excitement creeping in. "Can you give me a ride somewhere?"

* * *

><p>Ally stood alone, staring around the desolate store. Trish had just left for dinner, and since the mall closed at nine, she had about two hours left before she could go home for the night.<p>

She bit her lip, unsure of what to do for another two hours. She could work on more songs, but she really wasn't in the mood after her confrontation with Trish. Homework was unnecessary since once again, she was already on top of her assignments so everything was already done. And honestly, the smell from the cleaning supplies were starting to give her a headache.

She sighed audibly. "Well, Dawson, once again, looks like it's me and me tonight."

"Got room for a third party member?"

Ally whirled around from behind the counter, eyes widening in alarm. "Wha—?" she exclaimed, breathless from shock. She wasn't sure what she had been expecting, because even though she'd recognized his voice almost instantly, she'd thought for sure she'd been wrong and had merely imagined it.

Austin stood there, grinning impishly at her.

"Austin…?" she whispered, in complete disbelief.

"'S'up?"


End file.
